Public transport fares should not be linked to service levels and disruptions: Chee Hong Tat

SINGAPORE: Public transport service levels and disruptions should be separate from how fares are set, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat on Tuesday (Oct 15). 
Speaking during a ministerial statement on the East-West Line train disruption that occurred from Sep 25 to Sep 30, Mr Chee responded to a question from Member of Parliament Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) about whether this incident and service levels can be taken into consideration in the Public Transport Council’s (PTC) fare review exercise. 
MPs filed 31 parliamentary questions on the disruption, which stopped train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista MRT stations for six days. 
PTC previously studied whether fare reviews should be linked to service levels and disruptions, Mr Chee noted. 
The council decided not to adopt this approach because there are other measures in place to ensure that service standards are met, he added.
For service disruptions, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will establish causes and accountability, then mete out penalties where necessary, said the transport minister. 
When operators do not meet reliability targets, they also do not receive payments under the government’s incentive schemes. 
The annual fare review exercise ensures that fares keep pace with changes in operating costs so that the public transport system stays financially sustainable, said Mr Chee, adding that the council follows a fare formula. 
For example, the maximum increase allowed this year was 18.9 per cent, due to the 15.6 percentage points carried over from last year. PTC, however, decided to defer most of this and raise fares by 6 per cent to ensure affordability, said the transport minister. 
“If our fares are not adjusted to reflect rising operating costs, the persistent shortfall would have a chronic impact on service quality and reliability over time,” he added. 
“Or if we want to continue topping up the shortfall via government subsidies, it means that taxpayers will have to foot a higher bill.” 
Mr Chee also responded to multiple questions about how the costs of the disruption will be covered.
Regardless of the investigation outcome, SMRT will bear the costs of the free bridging buses and regular bus services, the foregone fare revenue during the disruption and the repair works, he said. 
This requirement applies to both rail operators – SMRT and SBS Transit – if they encounter disruptions along their respective train lines, he noted. 
After the disruption, Singaporeans are understandably concerned about what the incident means for the safety, reliability and resilience of the MRT system, said the transport minister. 
The system has multiple layers of safety controls, he added. LTA imposes stringent safety standards, and operators who do not meet them are subject to penalties, and where necessary, additional regulatory conditions and monitoring. 
LTA also imposes maintenance performance standards on holders of operator licences, which set out the maintenance requirements that operators must meet.
Responding to questions about the maintenance regime for trains, Mr Chee said regular maintenance is both time-bound and dependent on mileage. 
“These can range from regular visual inspections to more elaborate component replacement activities. Ad hoc maintenance activities are also carried out if there are abnormal indicators being picked up in between maintenance cycles,” he added. 
Operators have also installed condition-monitoring systems on the tracks and trains to detect potential defects, said Mr Chee, addressing questions about predictive maintenance. 
Special vehicles are also used to scan the tracks to pick up issues, and rectifying these defects is prioritised, he added. 
Redundancies are built into systems where feasible to ensure safety even when incidents occur, and there are processes in place to respond to incidents, said the transport minister. 
For example, the trains are powered by third rails, and backup power sources supply power to the third rails. 
“If the third rail is damaged and the train cannot move, the on-board battery system will maintain emergency lighting, ventilation fans and public address systems,” he said. 
During a breakdown where a fault cannot be immediately or easily resolved, ensuring that commuters leave the train is a top priority for their safety, said the transport minister. 
In 2012, the mean kilometres between failure for Singapore’s MRT network was 67,000 train-km, Mr Chee noted. 
Singapore achieved its target of at least 1 million train-km in 2019, and has maintained this for all MRT lines, he said, adding that this is comparable to the most reliable overseas metro systems. 
The different MRT lines have different mean kilometres between failure figures because they have their own characteristics. This includes their age, whether they are underground or overground and when they were commissioned or renewed, said Mr Chee. 
“LTA and our operators take reliability seriously. While we have made significant progress over the last decade, it continues to be a work-in-progress, and where we can do better, we will work together with our tripartite partners to implement the improvements,” he added. 
Responding to supplementary questions from Mr Louis Chua (WP-Sengkang) about new performance standards, Mr Chee noted that the government has to strike a balance between maintaining high standards and the costs incurred in maintaining those standards. 
“You can say why not 2 million (mean kilometres between failure), why not 4, 5 million? Nothing to stop you from setting that target,” he added. 
“But … we’ve also got to ask, what is the cost incurred by the system as a whole?” 
Achieving those standards would translate to costs for commuters and taxpayers, said Mr Chee. 
During service disruptions, travel times will be longer, said the transport minister, seeking understanding from commuters. 
“But we will do our best to keep disruptions to a minimum and offer alternative travel options where possible,” he added. 
With six MRT lines and a “sizeable” fleet of buses, Singapore’s public transport system is now better able to cope with disruptions, said Mr Chee. 
The planned expansions in Singapore’s rail network over the next decade will increase its capacity to meet daily commuter travel demand, provide more transport options and further improve rail resilience, he added. 
For example, when Stage 6 of the Circle Line is completed in 2026, commuters in the west will have another route to travel to the downtown area. 
By the early 2030s, the Cross Island Line will improve connectivity among the west, east and northeast regions, with almost half of its stations being interchanges, said the transport minister. 
The public bus network also plays a key role, providing first-mile and last-mile connectivity within towns, he added. 
“They provide some resilience and alternative routes during rail disruptions. That is why, even when we need to rationalise bus services, we retain at least one trunk route that runs parallel to MRT lines.” 
But buses cannot fully replace rail capacity if there is a train disruption, even after the addition of bridging buses, he noted. 
A six-car train on the East-West Line can carry more than 1,000 commuters and runs at two- to three-minute intervals during peak hours at speeds of up to 80kmh, while a double-deck bus carries up to 120 passengers and typically runs at much lower speeds based on traffic conditions. 
“Hence, even with up to 80 double-deck bridging buses deployed per day, these were unable to match the full capacity of the East-West Line,” said Mr Chee, recalling the disruption in September. 
A decade ago, Singapore faced significant challenges in the quality and reliability of its MRT service, said the transport minister, adding that the entire public transport sector “worked very hard” to improve it. 
“We are determined to maintain a high level of reliability, safety and service quality,” he added. 
Once the scale of the East-West Line disruption was assessed, LTA and public transport operators activated their plans quickly, said Mr Chee. 
“The safety of commuters was paramount, which was why we took the necessary time to complete the repairs and conduct rigorous testing before safely resuming services.” 
The findings of the investigation into the disruption will be shared publicly, he added. 
“We will learn from this episode, remain vigilant and work closely with our tripartite partners to continually improve our public transport system,” he said.