MRT just one transport option for para-athletes, organisers clarify

SINGAPORE — Following a public outcry, the Singapore ASEAN Para Games Organising Committee (SAPGOC) today (Oct 8) clarified that the MRT is just one of the transport options for athletes competing in December’s ASEAN Para Games (APG), which is being held here for the first time.

They are free to use any form of transport to travel from their hotel at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) to the competition venues at the Sports Hub in Kallang and other places, the committee said.

Today, The Straits Times reported that the SAPGOC said the MRT will be the “primary mode of transport” for the athletes and officials. This triggered many to slam the organisers on social media and to call radio stations to express their anger at the treatment of the participants. 

At a media briefing, SAPGOC chairman and Sport Singapore chief executive Lim Teck Yin sought to clarify the situation, saying that he wanted to quickly correct the impression that para-athletes are “lower-class citizens, we don’t have resources (for their transport) and we are too lazy to plan”. These were far from the truth, he stressed. 

“Our first priority will always be the well-being and care of the athletes. Our second is how we find ways to bring the ASEAN Para Games closer to the people,” he said.

“Unlike the SEA Games where there is no primary plan to come by MRT,” he said, “this option presented itself because we are three stops away from MBS and the numbers we are dealing with are not large.”

He said that transport operators, such as taxi operator ComfortDelGro and bus and train operator SBS Transit, will be providing wheelchair-accessible and air-conditioned buses as well as disabled-friendly vans for the athletes. Almost 100 such buses will be available and be deployed at five-minute frequencies in peak hours, and at every 10 minutes during off-peak periods for the Games.

On Oct 1, the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) held a briefing for APG coaches and team managers, which Mr Lim said he was not aware of. 

SDSC president Teo-Koh Sock Miang said today that her organisation has been working closely with the SAPGOC on the transport arrangements. At the Oct 1 briefing, “coaches were clearly told that there were different transportation options for athletes during the Games”, she said. 

“At no time were coaches told that the MRT was the only mode of transportation for athletes during the ASEAN Para Games,” she added. “Our athletes will be briefed about transport arrangements, together with other important Games-related information, closer to the Games.”

Mr Lim said athletes and officials can always choose the mode of travel they are most comfortable with. The decision to let athletes travel via the Circle Line from MBS — which is three stops away from the Sports Hub where eight of the 15 sports will be held — was to generate public awareness about the APG and foster a sense of inclusiveness.

He added that chaperones will be on standby to lead athletes to and from the train platforms at Bayfront MRT Station, where the MBS is, and at Stadium MRT Station, where the Sports Hub is. 

These volunteers will also announce the athletes’ arrivals to commuters and cheer them on. Shuttle buses will ferry the athletes from the Stadium MRT Station entrance to their competition venues and back.

In all, there will be 3,000 volunteers helping out at the APG, which will feature 1,300 athletes from 11 countries.

Mr Lim said that chef de missions and officials  — who are former para-athletes themselves — from the participating countries had been informed of this transport idea when they were in Singapore for meetings, and even tried out the MRT ride. “They were okay with it and gave it the thumbs up,” he said.

Paralympic swimmer Theresa Goh said Team Singapore athletes have not been briefed on transport arrangements for the APG. She said, however, that she would not mind taking the MRT during the Games.

“Having the MRT as one of several options is not a bad idea. I have been to other international sporting events which have only one option for transport,” she said. “More forms of transportation also allows for a flexible schedule for athletes and officials.”