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'Jerky' driving and public transport concerns are flagged

SINGAPORE — Improving accessibility for all users, such as wheelchair users and parents of young children, is one of the main areas for improvement in public transport, according to an inaugural survey on commuters’ experience of their journeys by the Public Transport Council.

SINGAPORE — Improving accessibility for all users, such as wheelchair users and parents of young children, is one of the main areas for improvement in public transport, according to an inaugural survey on commuters’ experience of their journeys by the Public Transport Council.

Speeding and “jerky” driving, the affordability of short rides, and reliability of services were the other areas flagged in the report, which culminated from surveys of more than 2,100 commuters at train stations and bus stops carried out over six months.

Another 44 in-depth interviews and 51 focus group discussions with another 400 commuters were conducted for the report, which has been submitted to Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

For the survey, parents cited challenges with taking public transport with young children, especially as they had to carry their child and fold up strollers before boarding buses. But last month, TODAY reported that bus operators and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are exploring the use of various restraint systems to secure strollers on buses.

At the same time, wheelchair users said they felt that cabbies shun them, leading the PTC to recommend training for taxi drivers on sensitivity and disability etiquette, for instance.

In a blog post on Monday (Aug 1), Mr Khaw said the LTA will study the report and “strive to put into practice the many useful recommendations contained in it”. “Our population is ageing and we need to up our birth rate. We must make our city the best place to bring up children and for our seniors,” he wrote.

“From a transport perspective, this means we will continue instilling a philosophy of making sure our seniors and disabled are able to use the transport network with confidence, while at the same time we embrace the needs of young families in their daily journeys.”

PTC chief executive Alvin Chia said some recommendations, such as improving assistance to wheelchair users, could take one to three years to carry out. Others, such as improving the design of buses and bus stops, will take a longer time frame.

Another concern raised by some commuters was the risk of falling over on buses due to speeding and sudden jerks by drivers. The PTC said bus captains’ feedback was that they drive different models every day, which takes getting used to. Some operators have installed systems on buses to monitor the smoothness of a ride, the council added.

Some commuters also felt that short-distance fares were not affordable, pointing out, for instance, that it costs 79 cents to commute two stops.

In response, PTC chairman Richard Magnus said that while fares were not under the council’s recommendations for this report, a separate public consultation on the fare structure would be done soon, as the current fare formula would be expiring by end-2017.

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