WITH Singapore having become a city for cars rather than people, the last thing we need is more cars ("Why Singapore still needs more cars"; March 20).
What Singapore needs is to quickly improve public transport, as the article rightly stated. This requires a willingness to solve several problems, a critical one being that of irregular bus services.
This can be achieved quite quickly, with the right mindset, either at the Transport Ministry or Land Transport Authority (LTA) level.
Running buses on time along their whole route would require proper training of bus drivers and strict enforcement. To achieve this, bus operators will need spare drivers and some spare buses. Drivers will need to be familiar with several routes as they will need to stand in for absent drivers.
With published timetables - people can plan their journeys ahead and will be assured of getting to their destinations on time.
Adherence to these timetables must be strictly enforced. Enforcing on-time operation will also require the establishment of timing stops. These are generally well-patronised stops, 10 to 15 minutes apart along each route.
Timing stops can then be used to monitor the on-time performance of each service using the ez-link database.
The next step is to optimise the bus network. The available travel data from the ez-link database should be used to plan optimal routes.
I hope that the Government acknowledges the seriousness of the current situation and does not shy away from taking necessary action.
Bruno Wildermuth
What Singapore needs is to quickly improve public transport, as the article rightly stated. This requires a willingness to solve several problems, a critical one being that of irregular bus services.
This can be achieved quite quickly, with the right mindset, either at the Transport Ministry or Land Transport Authority (LTA) level.
Running buses on time along their whole route would require proper training of bus drivers and strict enforcement. To achieve this, bus operators will need spare drivers and some spare buses. Drivers will need to be familiar with several routes as they will need to stand in for absent drivers.
With published timetables - people can plan their journeys ahead and will be assured of getting to their destinations on time.
Adherence to these timetables must be strictly enforced. Enforcing on-time operation will also require the establishment of timing stops. These are generally well-patronised stops, 10 to 15 minutes apart along each route.
Timing stops can then be used to monitor the on-time performance of each service using the ez-link database.
The next step is to optimise the bus network. The available travel data from the ez-link database should be used to plan optimal routes.
I hope that the Government acknowledges the seriousness of the current situation and does not shy away from taking necessary action.
Bruno Wildermuth
