Timely information is critical to prevent confusion when MRT services are down

SINGAPORE – It was only when MRT passengers arrived at stations along a stretch of the East-West Line on Dec 2 that they learnt their journeys would be lengthened by at least 20 minutes because of a track fault.

At Paya Lebar, one of eight stations affected between Bugis and Bedok, the platform

became a scene of confusion

as crowds built up and marshals shouted instructions on where each train was headed.

The situation was compounded by scheduled track work in eastern Singapore that required shuttle trains to run between Paya Lebar and Bedok. This added to the confusion for passengers.

What caught many by surprise, however, was the silence from the rail operator on its official channels. Despite the delay lasting more than an hour, there were no alerts on SMRT’s social media pages.

This marks a departure from the advisories that operators typically post to their social media channels, which include information on the maximum extra travelling time passengers should factor in. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) requires that operators inform passengers of delays exceeding 10 minutes.

This absence of official online alerts – apart from notifications on the ground via signs, digital displays and staff – frustrated some passengers, including those headed towards the affected stretch. Many public transport users depend on timely information to plan their journeys or take another route when a disruption hits.

Community transport pages quickly filled the information vacuum online, with passengers posting photos of station signs and urging fellow commuters to find alternative means of transport.

Late on Dec 3, LTA explained that SMRT and SBS Transit, the other rail operator here, will now prioritise alerts about minor MRT delays by

communicating to passengers who are directly affected at stations

.

Minor delays involve a shorter stretch of the rail network and service disruptions that are expected to last less than 30 minutes.

To enable journey planning, LTA said that along with the rail operators, it plans to provide more accurate information online about additional journey time during delays, based on commuters’ specific locations and destinations, as opposed to offering a generic advisory on maximum travelling time.

It is laudable that Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow has said there is

room to “do better” in supporting passengers through a disruption

. He also flagged in Parliament on Sept 22 the prospect of a single app from which passengers can get the information they need during a breakdown.

The hope is that this central source will provide more precise information on travel alternatives and extra travelling time, based on a passenger’s location.

If this comes to pass, it would be a boon for passengers who can find other means of transport ahead of time and still arrive at work, school or wherever they need to be on time.

Location-based alerts make sense because passengers far from the affected stretch do not need to be saddled with unnecessary information.

But until this digital avenue is ready, operators should continue to notify passengers who are already en route to the affected stations and may make different choices if they knew a fault had taken place.

The new communication approach also raises a key question: Given the complexity of some rail faults, how will operators and LTA know for certain that a disruption will be resolved in under 30 minutes, and hence communicate in this “localised” manner?

At times, faults can take longer than expected to rectify, and tests may need to be carried out to ensure the affected stretch is safe for operations to resume.

At what point would operators or LTA widen communications on a fault initially deemed resolvable in less than 30 minutes, but taking much longer to fix?

Many passengers appreciate being told early and via various channels that a fault will affect their trips, so that they can make other plans if needed.

In this age of diverse information sources, where passengers depend on different social media and online platforms and apps, operators need to fire on all cylinders and ensure the information reaches people wherever they are.

Shifting gears to communicate largely to passengers directly affected at stations when the central app or online platform is not yet available appears to be putting the cart before the horse.

With communication now mostly targeted at those already at the stations, passengers on their way to affected stretches of the MRT and LRT network may be caught off guard when they arrive, and left to scramble for other routes on the spot.

Where they would previously have been able to get information from official channels, or from news outlets reporting off these channels, they are now left to find out only when they reach the stations.

This seems to run counter to the improved service recovery process that the authorities hope to achieve during a rail breakdown.

Information posted early, and on as many platforms as possible, will also help to ease congestion at stations, relieving the load on crowd marshals and lowering the temperature of frayed nerves in what is a stressful situation for passengers and transport workers.

LTA said the practice of providing the maximum additional travelling time does not show accurately how a delay affects each passenger. It can also prompt those not yet affected to make unnecessary or costly detours, should services resume as expected.

While this may be true when faults are fixed quickly, there will be instances where more time is needed to bring the system back to normal.

Therefore, while LTA and the operators’ aim to provide more accurate, location-specific information is a step in the right direction, they should continue publishing information on rail delays exceeding 10 minutes until the new app or online platform is ready.

On many counts, Singapore’s rail network is advanced and mostly reliable, but there is no perfect system and disruptions will happen.

When they do, operators must give passengers a heads-up, as early as possible, so that they can better plan their journeys.

Resuming services quickly is key to the reliability of the rail network, but timely and dependable communication is just as critical.