Dear Minister Lui
I refer to my previous feedback for policymakers to walk the talk i.e. CEOs, directors and senior civil servants should commute by public buses and trains.
I read in The Straits Times (29 June) that Thailand’s Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt has encouraged his senior officials to take public buses at least once a week to personally experience the problems plaguing its public bus service.
This is a step in the right direction which our senior officials must emulate in order to really understand commuters’ issues. The reason for our worsening public transportation woes is due to MOT/LTA senior officials deluding themselves that they could understand what’s happening on the ground from air-conditioned offices or chauffer driven luxury vehicles.
As a leader, Minister Lui should be exemplary by taking public buses and trains regularly.
A compulsory weekly ride by all senior officials (not just from your ministry) will ensure there is sufficient and accurate feedback. Without such feedback, no solution will be in sight.
It is also delusional to assume that current and proposed measures will alleviate overcrowding. Why?
The issue of overcrowding was highlighted some years back when the population figure was below 5 million. Since the BSEP was announced in February last year, our population has probably increased by about 140,000 to presently 5.42 million (estimated based on historical rate).
The additional less than 200 (BSEP) buses have not reduced overcrowding because it merely resolves some of the overcrowding issue resulting from a corresponding population increase. Many public transport commuters have expressed their frustrations and are fed up with our first world public transportation system.
As have been mentioned in previous feedback, chronic issues such as.bus bunching and severe traffic bottlenecks have yet to be resolved. The 1001 construction sites (everywhere) and new MRT lines under construction have not only worsened such bottlenecks but have also made our roads dangerous.
(As also mentioned before, construction companies appear to be cutting costs by allowing their workers to use our public buses. What is the point of spending hundreds of millions to purchase new buses only for commuters to share them with foreign construction workers? If anyone wants to claim that I am biased, he/she should walk the talk i.e. all senior government officials must offer to share their private vehicles with these workers on a regular basis. The worst timing would be during evening peak hours. Yesterday, my 13 year old daughter returned from school on a bus that was half filled with construction workers who had just finished work! This is seriously bad/no planning. And commuters are getting really fed up.)
Singaporeans are practically screaming into politicians’ and policymakers’ ears to empathise with our situation because this has been unacceptable for a number of years.
It also cannot expect citizens to accept its ‘more of the same’ proposed solution.
The Thai transport minister has been exemplary. To show sincerity instead of perpetually talking the talk, please take a leaf out of the Thai transport minister’s book.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Phillip Ang