Possible Strategies To Make Public Transport More Appealing To Commuters

According to the straits time, public transport patronage rose to hit another record high in 2018, with a total of 7.54 million taking buses or trains a day, or 3.8 percent more than 2017. Public transportation is buses, trains, and other forms of transport that are available to consumers, it goes on fixed rates and a settled fare. It also allows consumers to travel from one point to another. It is now very common for commuters to pay Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and bus ride fares contactless with their NETS contactless cards or Apple Pay. It is still highly debatable as many people need to take public transportation to work daily. The following essay will discuss three possible strategies that can be implemented to make public transport more appealing to commuters. The three possible strategies are making bus lanes, giving special rates and incentives.

Firstly making bus lanes in expressway for buses is important as it will not be caught up in the traffic with other cars or bikes on the road and it will make it more appealing to commuters. Secondly, not all small road in Singapore has a bus lane, bus lane should be everywhere to make it more appealing and commuters will be more willing to take buses to places they want to go. Nowadays commuters rather take privately hired cars rather than public transport like buses or MRT. According to Tan(2016) there will be an expressway built in Singapore originally slated for completion by 2020, it is likely to be dragged at least a year later. It is called the north-south corridor a 21.5kilometre partly underground road connecting woodlands to the heartland of Singapore. In addition out of the three lanes, there will be one lane mainly reserved for buses making it the foremost highway to be built this way. Unlike bus lanes on smaller roads with red or yellow marking on the road it will be different as the newly built bus lanes are dedicated . Although an expressway has a bus lane dedicated to it, it is still not enough to make it more appealing to commuters as it only pass through places such as Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, and Toa Payoh to the city. According to Land Transport Authority (LTA) (2019), the updated news on north-south corridor is scheduled for completion in 2026. On the other hand, it should be done as soon as possible, if it is scheduled for completion in 2020 but dragged for a year then for another 5 years. However, many commuters still prefer own personal transportation even when the expenses is so much higher. Therefore making bus lanes is important and making bus lanes on expressways or small road all over Singapore will make the journey much smoother for commuters so that buses do not get stuck in traffic jams like other vehicles on the road and it will be appealing for commuters to take public transport instead of own personal transportation. It will be so much more appealing if there are incentives given.

Since most people uses public transport for work and their daily lives giving out incentives or rewards will make it more appealing to commuters. Instead of having incentives or rewards maybe a free ride once a month will attract more commuters to take public transport. According to Channel News Asia (2019) the new initiative called Travel Smart Journey rewards commuters more squarely along jammed areas to consider different modes or ways by allocating peak hour demand. The current initiative, named Travel Smart Rewards, encouraged commuters to travel outside the morning peak period so that commuters can earn points and rewards. The Travel Smart Rewards goal is to redistribute peak hour travel demand. Travel Smart Rewards have been ceased. The authority said with Travel Smart Rewards there was a 12 percent increase in commuters traveling before the peak hour in 2018, knowingly larger than the overall ridership growth of two percent. First of all incentives should not only be given to avoid jammed areas or peak hours. Secondly, incentives or rewards can make public transport more appealing. Even though incentives or rewards is given to commuters who took different ways instead of jammed areas it is not enough, different ways might be more time-consuming. In addition incentives or rewards should be given to all commuters regardless of commuters taking an alternate route to avoid the congested area during peak hour or commuters taking public transport after peak hours. On the other hand, increasing the frequency of public transport massively is much more important so that commuters don’t have to wait too long in order to board the buses or the Mass Rapid Transit.

Giving special rates to lower-income families for public transport as bus and mass rapid transit fares increase by 7 percent. According to the straits, times (2019) Government announced a 6 million dollar top-up to the public transport fund to help this year’s public transport voucher exercise. Lower-income families will get more help for their public transport needs. Vouchers worth of $50 each will be available to those lower-income families that are eligible within the criteria.” The government will ensure that sufficient assistance is available for commuters in need” the ministry of transport said in a statant yesterday. Lower revenue employees will also get a 25 percent discount off the adult fares on public transport up from, 20 percent. According to the Ministry of Transport (2019), families that need more help can apply for additional vouchers through The Community Club. Similarly, single parents with difficulty should also have fares discounts to help lessen their load or expenses. Despite the 6million dollar top-up to the public transport fund to help the needy commuters, there will still be some families out there that need the help. The vouchers might temporarily help for a month or two but it is not going to help in the long term. Therefore more help should be given out to needy families like lower down the fares for buses and mass rapid transit from twenty-five percent to thirty-five percent it will help much more than just giving vouchers which are temporary. Besides doing all these, the land transport authority can have a shuttle bus for needy commuters to cut their expenses.

In conclusion, most commuters take public transportation daily and it is very common for commuters to pay contactless for fares. The essay has discussed three possible strategies that can be implemented to make public transportation more appealing to commuters the three strategies are implementing bus lanes on expressways, giving incentives or rewards and giving special rates to lower-income families. The essay has discussed only three strategies. The research shows that with travel smart rewards 12 percent increase in commuters traveling before the peak hour in 2018. The finding also shows that a north-south corridor expressway is going to be built and has dedicated bus lanes to make the journey much smoother. Therefore it is important to have incentives or rewards to make public transport more appealing. In addition to helping the lower-income families fares should be reduced. It is recommended Bus lanes should be everywhere so that It can avoid traffic jams and it will make it more appealing to commuters.