Marine Parade shuttle bus to cease operations in November, resources to be redirected
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The WeCare Shuttle Service, which began in July 2024, will cease after about 16 months of operations.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Follow topic:
- The WeCare Shuttle Service, serving Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC and Mountbatten SMC, will end on Nov 20 when its contract expires.
- After 16 months and considering feedback and other factors, constituencies decided to "redirect resources" from the service, which cost about $1 million annually.
- Affected residents will be engaged about the service's end and next steps.
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SINGAPORE – The free shuttle bus service for residents of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC and Mountbatten will cease operations after its current contract ends on Nov 20.
Announcing this in a Facebook post on Oct 13, the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC and Mountbatten SMC said they decided not to extend the current contract beyond Nov 20 and will “redirect the resources in a more targeted manner”.
This means the service, which began in July 2024 to improve transport connectivity for residents
The WeCare Shuttle Service plies seven routes for the residents of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC’s five wards – Marine Parade, Kembangan, Geylang Serai, Braddell Heights and MacPherson – and Mountbatten SMC during off-peak hours from 10am to 4pm on weekdays, excluding public holidays.
The service makes stops at markets, food centres and polyclinics, with routes planned based on residents’ feedback.
The move to discontinue the shuttle comes after consideration of feedback received, as well as “other factors” in their latest review, both constituencies said.
“We are mindful of how this may affect residents who are currently using the service. As such, we will soon be engaging affected residents and also share more about our next steps going forward,” they said.
Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC MP Tin Pei Ling told The Straits Times on Oct 13 that uneven ridership was observed across all six divisions, with some experiencing “pretty low ridership” while others recorded higher uptake.
From August to early October, around 1,500 residents used the shuttle service.
Some of the feedback received highlighted certain groups that needed more support, Ms Tin said.
The constituencies, she said, had to make a very difficult decision to stop the service, to maximise the benefits that residents could get from the limited resources available.
She said they would be redirecting the resources to introduce a transport service that is “more targeted in scope”.
More details will be made known when ready, she added.
Ms Tin said that, from Oct 14 to 17, volunteers will be on the ground – at bus stops and on the buses – to inform affected residents that the shuttle will stop operations in November.
Noting that some residents found the service useful for last-mile connections between places in their community and their homes during off-peak hours, Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC and Mountbatten SMC said they had been observing ridership patterns while regularly soliciting feedback from residents.
These included residents who enjoy using the service and those who have not tried it.
Engineer David Chua, 41, said he was disappointed that the shuttle service would be discontinued.
It was a convenient way for him and his elderly parents to get to Eunos Polyclinic every few months for their health check-ups.
From ST’s observations on the morning of Oct 14 at the Eunos Polyclinic stop, two out of three buses that arrived were empty.
One had around seven passengers aboard, four of whom got off at the polyclinic.
Within the first few weeks of the service’s launch, about 1,000 residents were reported to have taken the shuttle service each week.
In July and August 2024, ST’s checks found that many shuttle buses operating in the morning were fairly empty, with some running with just three passengers, while others had none.
More passengers were seen on certain routes in the afternoon.
In January, some routes were adjusted and stops added.
In April, Manpower Minister and then Marine Parade GRC MP Tan See Leng said the team intended to continue with the service beyond its initial year-long pilot, and a few of the routes were being utilised by residents on a very regular basis.
Dr Tan, who became an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC after the general election in May, added that residents had found the service helpful in getting to polyclinics, wet markets and hawker centres, as well as town council and HDB offices.
The shuttle bus service costs about $1 million a year to operate
The remaining 80 per cent or so comes from donations raised by the CDC and the respective grassroots organisations, then Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan told Parliament in August 2024.
Opposition MPs had questioned in Parliament the Government’s approach to equity and fairness in the use of taxpayer-funded grants
They had also asked why the MPs for the Marine Parade cluster were fronting the free shuttle, with drawings of the MPs on one side of the buses.
Mr Tan said featuring people and landmarks that are familiar to residents on the buses would help with identifying the vehicles.
In addition to the drawings of the MPs’ faces, the shuttle buses also bear images of landmarks in the area, such as the Wisma Geylang Serai community hub.
