Bus operators could be fined S$4,000 for every 6-sec-delay

SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be conducting a two-year trial to improve en-route bus reliability, Minister for Transport  Lui Tuck Yew said today (Jan 6).

The trial will start next month when some services will start to come under the framework and will involve 22 bus services in total. 

The framework works on a penalty and incentive basis where the Excess Waiting Time (EWT) will be used to decide whether the Public Transport Operators (PTOs) are rewarded or punished.

The EWT is calculated by comparing the commuter’s Actual Waiting Time (AWT) and the Scheduled Waiting Time (SWT) and this EWT score will then be compared to a baseline score, which will differs from service to service.

PTOs can be fined between S$1,300 to S$4,000 for every 0.1 minute (6 seconds) that the EWT is higher than the baseline score of the particular service.

If the service shows improvement, PTOs stand to receive between S$2,000 and S$6,000 for every 0.1 minute that the EWT score improves from the baseline.

The penalties and incentives are calculated on a six-month average for each service involved.

Mr Lui made the announcement this morning at the launch of the Ang Mo Kio Direct Bus Service 652.