See how Singapore public transport can satisfy commuters

A widening gap has emerged between the increasing expectations of Singapore’s commuters and their perceptions of the quality of public transport.

In the latest customer satisfaction survey by Singapore Management University’s Institute of Service Excellence[1], perceived quality on buses and trains have worsened.

For the MRT, satisfaction fell 8.7% year on year to 61.9 points, on a zero to 100 scale, while for public buses, it declined 7.2% to 61.6 points. The institute had commented previously that the national average is close to 70 points[2], indicating that customers are less satisfied than before.

 With ridership on the MRT having more than doubled in the last decade to about 2.3 million passenger trips daily, the major MRT disruptions in December last year is still a raw wound for commuters.

The survey indicated that MRT commuters value safety, travel time, frequency, operating hours and comfort, while bus commuters valued customer service, frequency, comfort, cleanliness and punctuality, in order of importance.

Commuters will be glad to learn that capacity expansion is underway. The opening of the final stretches of the Circle Line in 2011 was much heralded, and commuters can look forward to even greater connectivity, as the Downtown Line begins to open in phases beginning next year and continuing till 2017.

Extensions are still being made, including the North South Line and Tuas West, with more trains being injected into the MRT system, and the new Thomson and Eastern Region Lines will be built.

Upgrading of the signalling system on the North South and East West Lines will allow trains to run at shorter intervals of 100 seconds instead of the current 120 seconds during peak periods, leading to a shorter waiting time, and with higher frequency, less crowding and a more comfortable journey.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the Rail Transit System network will grow to 199km in 2017 with 39 additional stations, from its current approximately 149km length comprising 99 stations[3].

Bus users are not left out. They will enjoy an increase in capacity, with 800 additional buses set to hit the roads over the next five years, increasing the total fleet by 20%.

550 of these are funded by the state while the operators will add the remaining 250 at their own cost. Commuters can hence expect improvements in frequency and less crowded buses.  40 new bus services will also be introduced in the five years, up from 261 routes today[4].

 While the expansion in capacity will no doubt be much welcomed by public transport users, the authorities and operators have also taken steps to propel innovation in public transport through investing in technology.

Real-time mobile and direct communication delivers to commuters maps with geo-positioning, real-time traffic information and journey planners incorporating transfers between the various modes of public transport.

Smartphone apps such as My Transport Singapore serve as a personalized one-stop master directory of land transport services.

In addition, LTA has tapped on social networks with its own Facebook page to connect better with the public and provide real-time updates on its initiatives.

While infrastructural changes take years build, Accenture believes the use of advanced analytics is a low hanging fruit that can be leveraged to better understand the dynamic needs and wants of current and potential public transport users, with its potential to deliver deep insights.

Electronic payments for transport through Singapore’s contactless EZ-link card presents opportunities to understand public transport usage at a granular level.

Understanding the defection rate of users to private transport and the reasons why, developing dynamic route and scheduling optimisation tools which can be used to adjust routes and bus capacity to adapt to real-time demand, optimising on a continuous basis the traffic production are just some of the possible outcomes through analytics.

By studying price and demand elasticity, fares can be optimised. Spatial analytics can help predict and warn the public of congestion.

The provision of better information on point-to-point times can persuade drivers that transit times can be just as good or even better than driving.

Accenture posits the opportunities for public transport providers have never been greater. Conducting deeper analytics can generate powerful insights to guide decision-makers’ strategies and help them deliver better choice and service for the public with the aim of getting more people out of their cars and onto public transport.

The results can help both authorities and operators allocate funds to address critical concerns and target levers that are most important to the public, leading to higher satisfaction for all.

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