Transport Minister Raymond Lim has announced a slew of measures to make public transport more seamless for commuters and improve bus routes. This follows a review of the country's land transport policies. We bring you excerpts of his speech.

Mr Lim elaborates on the 'pain points' in Singapore's public transport system and touches on the Government's people-centred land transport system.

Mr Lim also outlines 5 major initiatives to enhance the hub-and-spoke system. He said doing so will address problems of waiting time, travel time and over-crowding.

To further enhance transfers, distance-based through fare system will be introduced by 2009. This'll get rid of the transfer fare penalty. Mr Lim also highlighted other bus priority measures to speed up buses.

More will be done to integrate Singapore's bus and MRT stations. To help commuters plan their journeys better, LTA and Transitlink will also come up with an enhanced Integrated Public Transport Journey Planner by July 2008.

Mr Lim said more competition will be introduced to drive efficiency and improve services. There'll also be more niche services such as premium buses.

In his keynote address at the annual Singapore Tripartism Forum, former Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen - now Education Minister - reflects on the importance of not 'protecting' workers here through a clampdown on the foreign worker quota and a high wage policy. He also elaborates on the way forward for Singapore's workforce.