Tower Transit trials programme to help older bus drivers transition to other roles
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Mr Alex Poon, 74, guiding his younger colleague, Mr Mohammad Zulhilmi Arif, 28, in conducting routine checks on a bus at Bulim Bus Depot.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
- Tower Transit Singapore trials pilot programmes for senior bus drivers.
- Programmes allow senior drivers to mentor, become interchange officers, or drive part-time (35 hours weekly) with unchanged salaries, supporting their continued employment.
- Senior Minister Koh Poh Koon highlighted senior workers' significant contribution and need for multi-stage careers to avoid decline.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – In less than a month’s time, Mr Alex Poon will turn 75 and no longer be allowed to drive a bus.
But the Tower Transit Singapore employee has no plans to retire just yet and will instead transition to becoming a mentor figure for new bus drivers.
Under a pilot programme being trialled by the public transport operator with 15 senior bus drivers, Mr Poon will accompany those fresh in the role as they ply their routes, imparting to them lessons gleaned from his more than 30 years of experience.
Noting that he will teach them the value of patience, he added that he was similarly mentored by older bus drivers when he first took on the role, and this was his chance to pay it forward.
He said: “I’m very happy to pass my experience to new drivers. I’m still healthy and I’m happy in this job.”
Mr Poon’s new role is one of three programmes Tower Transit Singapore is testing out in light of an ageing workforce, as part of a partnership with the Alliance for Action on Empowering Multi-Stage Careers for Mature Workers.
The industry-led group, formed by the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment, is working with about 30 different firms to come up with solutions that support the employment of senior workers.
These include training and equipping them with new skills, as well as allowing such workers to transition to less demanding roles.
Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Health Koh Poh Koon, who is one of the three co-chairs in the work group, told the media on April 23 that senior workers are still able to “contribute significantly” to Singapore’s economy, carrying years of experience that can be tapped.
From a medical perspective, physical and cognitive decline also sets in rapidly when a person stops working, he added, which prompts the need to have “more opportunities for our workforce to continue working for as long as they can”.
During a visit to Bulim Bus Depot in Jurong West, where Tower Transit Singapore operates out of, Dr Koh said: “The nature of work is changing. It’s not likely for anyone to continue in a linear fashion in their entire career.
“So we have to look at how to redesign multi-staged careers for our workforce as they go through different stages of life.”
In Tower Transit Singapore’s case, besides having older bus drivers transition to a buddy for new hires, they can also opt to take on a secondary role as an officer at one of its six interchanges.
Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Health Dr Koh Poh Koon speaking to the media at a doorstop after the tour of Bulim Bus Depot on April 23.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
While they will still be able to drive, they will be behind the wheel less often and instead assist the supervisor at the interchange.
Alternatively, they can also choose to drive part-time for a total of 35 hours a week, instead of 44, with the operator saying that their salaries will remain unchanged.
Of the roughly 1,600 bus drivers Tower Transit Singapore employs, about 14 per cent are aged 60 and above.
Some have asked about wanting to continue working, said managing director Winston Toh.
“As a responsible employer, we want to be able to see whether there are opportunities that we can create to support the older workers.”
