On the buses and in the trains, it is door hogging, with commuters crowding near the doors.

This is a quirk of commuters that needs to be tackled to make public transport here more attractive, said Ms Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC) in Parliament yesterday.

Giving a possible reason for the behaviour, she said: 'One possibility is their fear that they would not be able to get out on time.'

One way around it is to fix indicators on buses to tell passengers the next stop, she suggested with a smile.

Looking amused, Transport Minister Raymond Lim replied that transport operator SBS Transit had even introduced brain teasers to coax passengers to change their ways.

In fact, it had a Move To The Rear campaign in February last year to encourage passengers to move to the rear of the bus, he said.

So, every Singaporean has to play his part in improving public transport, he added.

'It has to be a community effort. Everybody has to play their part, not just the Government and the PTOs (public transport operators).'

KOR KIAN BENG