Downward Trend in the Public Transport Mode

As you requested on August 15, this report outlines the results of our team’s investigation on the downward trend in public transport mode in Singapore, the issue concerning this trend and recommendations to achieving the Land Transport Master Plan (LTMP) key objective of raising the public transport mode share to 70 per cent by year 2020.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Singapore is facing a major challenge to reverse the declining public transport mode share and ensure that our public transport system can cater to the significant increase in daily travel demand. Between 1997 and 2004, the public transport mode share during the morning peak period has dropped from 67% in 1997 to 63% in 2004.

The 2008 survey conducted based on about 10500 households in Singapore by LTA showed that public transport journeys usage and car journeys increased by 16% and 31% respectively. The heavier car usage has led to an overall drop in the public transport mode share from 63% in 2004 to 59% in 2008.

With the current travel demand of 8.9 million journeys a day, it is expected to increase to about 14.3 million journeys a day based on population planning parameters, projected tourist arrivals and general increase in economic activities. Singapore is a land scarce nation with growing population, hence building more roads is not going to help solve our transport problems; instead, it will increase traffic congestions and carbon dioxide emissions with more cars on the roads.

To achieve the key objective of LTMP, public transport must be a mode of choice for everyone in Singapore, the current public transport commuters as well as those who own cars.

Figure 1