Land Transport Masterplan: Peak hour public transport mode share back up

MRT commuters at Raffles Place station on June 24 2013. More people are opting to take public transport during the peak hours with the public transport mode share hitting 63 per cent, up from the 59 per cent in 2008. This however is still lower than
MRT commuters at Raffles Place station on June 24 2013. More people are opting to take public transport during the peak hours with the public transport mode share hitting 63 per cent, up from the 59 per cent in 2008. This however is still lower than the mode share of 67 per cent in 1997. -- ST FILE PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN  

More people are opting to take public transport during the peak hours with the public transport mode share hitting 63 per cent, up from the 59 per cent in 2008. This however is still lower than the mode share of 67 per cent in 1997.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew announced this on Monday, while launching a refreshed land Transport Masterplan. He said that the Government made good progress in its last masterplan in 2008 and had raised the quality of public transport to attract new users.

The public transport mode share was captured in the latest Household Interview Travel Survey (HITS) 2012 conducted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) between June 2012 and May 2013. A total of about 10,000 households participated in the survey.

As a whole, the survey also found that there was a 14 per cent increase in trips made on public transport as a whole, with strong growth in train trips from 1.7 million daily train trips in 2008 to 2.3 million in 2012. Daily bus trips also grew, from 3.1 million trips in 2008 to 3.2 million in 2012. The survey also captured an increase in the rate of public transport usage from 65 per cent in 2008 to 71 per cent in 2012, for those already living close to an MRT station.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.