ST Forum - Develop a complementary system

An edited version of this letter was published in Straits Times on 19 January 2012

The two train breakdowns in December was a surprise to Singaporeans, because they were totally unexpected, not only to commuters but to the train operator.

My friend had just experienced a train delay of one hour during his holiday in the UK. He said that train breakdowns and delays in the advanced countries are quite common and are taken in their stride.

While we can do our best in carrying out proper maintenance of the train system, we have to accept the fact that there will be more frequent disruption in services in the future due to the age of the system and to the over-load on the train system.

I urge the Land Transport Authority to take urgent steps to develop a complementary service to reduce the over-reliance on the current train service. A possible approach is: 

• Allow express bus services to be operated between the bus interchanges which are already located next to the train stations
• These express services bring passengers between the bus interchanges and do not pick up passengers along the route
• They will increase the capacity during the peak hours and reduce the over-crowding on the trains
• It will be easy to add more buses quickly in the event of a train breakdown
• It allows commuters to become familiar with an alternative service
• The express bus services can be operated by the train operators or by private bus companies.

Tan Kin Lian