SINGAPORE - Commuters have offered positive responses to SMRT's efforts to serve them better and keep abreast of ongoing projects to improve the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL), the train operator said on Monday (July 4).

The results were announced after two communication campaigns meant to boost SMRT's interaction with over three million commuters that travel through its network daily.

Apart from keeping commuters engaged and informed of its efforts to improve service reliability, the operator said the outreach efforts also enables it to gather valuable commuter feedback on areas of concern.

The first interactive campaign saw Travel Experience Terminals (TExT) deployed at eight MRT stations and four bus interchanges since June 1. These terminals allow commuters to share feedback on staff service.

Results from the first month of the two-month trial have been positive, with over 69,300 respondents to date, SMRT said.

Posed with the statement that they "can see SMRT staff working hard to improve their travel experience", 81 per cent have responded positively since the start of the trial.

The second campaign saw some 295,000 homes along the East-West Line invited to share their thoughts via an online survey to gauge their understanding of the multi-year, multi-programme efforts to renew the ageing rail network.

Over 90 per cent of about 7,500 respondents to date say they understand the benefits of the upgrading works that are being carried out, and over 88 per cent feel that SMRT is working hard on improving the travel experience for commuters.

A set of fridge magnets given to commuters as part of SMRT's outreach campaign. PHOTO: SMRT

Mr Patrick Nathan, SMRT's vice-president for corporate information and communications, said: "We are very encouraged by the responses and thank our commuters for their support and understanding as work continues to improve their journeys.

"SMRT will sustain these engagement initiatives as commuter feedback and insights are valuable to us as we continually seek to improve our service and commuter experience."

Mr Nathan added that TExT machines will be placed at more MRT stations after the two-month trial to cover a range of topics that affect the commuter travel experience, such as improvements brought about by on-going rail renewal programmes and accessibility to commuter friendly amenities within the network.

Following the positive response from those who have received the Paving the Way for Better Journeys information packs, SMRT plans to extend the outreach to commuters living close to the North-South Line as part of phase two of the campaign.