Carrot-stick scheme to improve bus service reliability

Commuters boarding a SMRT bus near Clementi MRT station. A system that penalises and rewards bus operators for service reliability will begin with 15 services in the first quarter. -- ST FILE PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
Commuters boarding a SMRT bus near Clementi MRT station. A system that penalises and rewards bus operators for service reliability will begin with 15 services in the first quarter. -- ST FILE PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

A system that penalises and rewards bus operators for service reliability will begin with 15 services in the first quarter. The eight SBS Transit and seven SMRT bus services will be among 22 that will be measured in a pilot that will span two years, said the Land Transport Authority on Monday.

The Bus Service Reliability Framework scheme is similar to service quality standards applied in countries such as Britain and Australia, and measures actual arrival times at bus stops along a route.

This differs from the previous method used here, which measured bus departure times from depots. The first 15 services are No 3, 17, 39, 52, 176, 184, 188, 228, 241, 242, 302, 325, 858, 901 and 911. They will be measured monthly according to the satellite-based global positioning system that track public buses, the ticketing system, as well as on-site audits.

Each 0.1-minute deviation in their arrival at each bus stop will be compared to a baseline for the respective route, and will go towards determining the monthly incentive amount of $6,000 and penalty of $4,000 for SBS Transit and SMRT.

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