SINGAPORE - Commuters were more satisfied last year with public transport than they had ever been in the last five years, a poll commissioned by the Land Transport Authority showed.

The latest annual Public Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey revealed that the satisfaction level inched upwards by 0.5 points to reach 91.8 per cent - the highest since 2010.

It was the second consecutive improvement since the government pumped in billions to expand the public bus fleet, and ramped up a rail renewal programme on the older North-South and East-West MRT lines.

The satisfaction level for bus services improved for the third consecutive year, rising slightly to 90.7 per cent, from 90.2 per cent in 2014.

The most significant improvement was in waiting time, which rose 10.6 points to 72.4 per cent. Despite that, waiting time remained the lowest-scoring component of the bus satisfaction matrix.

Bus reliability rose by 5.4 points to 84.2 per cent.

The satisfaction level for MRT services also rose, despite the unprecedented breakdown in July that affected nearly half a million people. Waiting time posted a 3.9-point improvement and service information was 3.7 points higher.

However, the MRT scored somewhat poorly for crucial components such as reliability and comfort. They stood at 83.7 and and 78.9 per cent, respectively. For comparison, buses scored 87.8 per cent for comfort.

Overall, public transport commuters were most satisfied with accessibility to bus stops, stations and interchanges (90.2 per cent). Next came safety and security (90 per cent).

A total of 3,843 regular bus and MRT commuters aged 15 years and above were interviewed from Oct 5 to 9 at bus interchanges, bus stops and MRT stations, in and outside the CBD.

Among them, 67 per cent felt public transport improved last year - up from 60.8 per cent who felt this way in 2014.