Singapore - Transport system starts to malfunction

The latest crisis in Singapore is public transport, which has been getting intolerably overcrowded in recent years. It has joined a few other over-burdened services like public housing and healthcare facilities.

SINGAPORE’S public transport system has become the latest thing to feel the weight of rapid population expansion.

For years debate has raged without conclusion whether Singapore can accommodate six-and-a-half million people or even more.

Well, with the population reaching 5.18 million many Singaporeans are now convinced they have the answer, and it’s not what the government likes to hear.

The people explosion in the past decade has strained public services on the island – one of the most densest-populated in the world – to breaking point.

Singapore’s infrastructure – painstakingly built and maintained – is still in fairly working order compared to many countries, but it has lost much of its previous lustre.

The latest crisis is public transport, which has been getting intolerably overcrowded in recent years. It has joined a few other over-burdened services like public housing and healthcare facilities.

Last year, there were more shortage cases of make-do hospital beds along corridors, and fresh graduates unable to buy public houses and delaying marriages.

A new one now has emerged – trains and buses.

Built 24 years ago when the population was half the size, Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) broke down last week on a daily basis, stranding more than 200,000 passengers.

For the first time Singaporeans were finding out that their “world-class” transport system was starting to malfunction.

The MRT breakdown was “extremely serious”, exclaimed Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew.

Many Singaporeans are demanding that SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa resign to take responsibility. A petition attracted 1,400 signatures.

After saying she might do just that, Saw later changed her mind and now says she will stay.

The failures caused widespread public misery. Stories abound of businessmen missing deals and appointments and workers having part of their wages docked for coming late.

A government backbencher said she had received numerous appeals for help from affected commuters.

“Some workers made it home around midnight,” she said.

The rail dilemma recalled Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong from a two-week leave to announce he was ordering a national inquiry.

The demand for public transport spilled into jammed buses, where fleet expansion had already resulted in the hiring of poorly-trained foreign drivers unfamiliar with the roads.

Like a comedy of errors, several drivers found themselves driving around in circles before reporting being lost.

In one case travellers were kept in the vehicle for hours as the driver, probably from China, drove around trying to find the right way.

The train inquiry will throw up some questions. Minister Liu noted that train frequencies over the years to cater to a growing population had resulted in less time to carry out inspections and maintenance.

“We are getting away lightly. Things could have been much worse. It is lucky we have avoided a train crash,” said a commuter.

Many critics blame the government for running public services (including transport and public housing) like a business where keeping costs down and profits up is top priority.

The transport fiasco will continue to have an impact on politics in the years ahead until the next election. It will affect all Singaporeans, but one group above all – senior citizens.

The Straits Times published a survey last week which said Singaporeans were most dissatisfied with the public transport system and disliked the poor punctuality.

The survey, done before the recent breakdowns, said four out of 10 in this group were seniors above 60 years old, of which 41% were very dissatisfied.

The feelings are understandable. They already live in one of Asia’s most expensive retirement cities, and the government policy is to make it costly to operate a car.

I have often heard people talk of Singapore being a small island.

Well, it may be to the young and mobile – but for a 71-year-old like me whose health had known better days, Singapore is definitely not small.

And moving around becomes harder. Last week particularly was a nightmare.

Two years ago when I downgraded to a smaller home I was guided by one thought – how to avoid being squeezed by the government’s future transport strategy.

It looked obvious to me the policy was to make car ownership impossibly expensive to contemplate. So I searched everywhere for a home that was within 10 minutes walk from a train station.

That was easier said than done. It seemed everyone had the same idea and costs were going up.

To me, depending on public transport was not an option but a necessity.

I was preparing for the inevitable day when I would have to surrender my old four-wheeler to the junkyard because of rising operating costs.

At the moment, the Singaporean’s love affair with the car remains strong, but I believe the authorities will invent tougher fiscal measures to pry the car away from him.

Some will, of course, rather kiss Singapore goodbye than their vehicle.

One devilish way on the card is the replacement of the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system, where cars passing through certain gantry points are automatically charged a fee.

In its place, the authorities will introduce the Global Positioning System (GPS) to satellite-track vehicles on Singapore roads for tax purposes.

When that day arrives, the moment you drive your car out of your front gate, the government taxman takes over – unseen and efficient.

That will probably happen within the next two years. By then few Singaporeans can afford to keep their cars or abandon the train or bus.

This is why the Transport Minister has the good wishes of every commuter in Singapore to repair public transport on time.

SEAH CHIANG NEE

The Star

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