THE RELEVANCE OF BUSES IN SINGAPORE'S RAIL DOMINATED TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Abstract

Singapore aims to be a car-lite society by 2030. An efficient and convenient public transport system is vital to encourage car users to give up driving.

Buses and trains form Singapore’s public transport backbone. As the MRT network extends into more areas, commuting habits are expected to change. The role of buses will also change as more commuters are expected to use the new MRT lines. Thus, this dissertation seeks to examine the current and future role of Singapore’s bus system.

As part of the research methodology, spatial analysis was performed to study the existing public transport network to understand how well each planning area is served. In addition, critical evaluations using surveys, interviews and case studies were performed to investigate the role of buses and factors affecting public transport commuter modal choice.

The study found that while the MRT stands out in terms of speed, buses have proven to be more comfortable and serve more destinations. Based on analysis of factors and lessons from other systems, wider bus network coverage, enhanced bus priority schemes and passenger amenities can make buses more user-friendly. Bus service provision could be improved through the use of crowdsourcing and dynamic route planning technologies to optimise resource utilisation. Buses would still play an important role notwithstanding the future expansion of the MRT. By having a strong bus system to support the rail network, public transport blind spots could be reduced and overall public transport resilience, attractiveness and reliability could be increased with two strong and complementary systems.