Opening Remarks by Senior Minister of State for Transport and Foreign Affairs, Mr Chee Hong Tat at the Launch of Land Transport Industry Digital Plan for Chartered Bus Services Sector

Ms Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information and National Development, and Honourable Advisor of Singapore School and Private Hire Bus Owners’ Association 

Mr Philip Peh, President of SSPHBOA

Association Leaders and Members of the Chartered Bus Community 

Introduction

1.     Good morning to all of you.  Very happy to join you here today to launch the Land Transport Industry Digital Plan for the chartered bus services sector.

2.     The chartered bus services segment plays an important role in keeping Singaporeans connected.  It is the largest segment in land transport outside of public transport, with over 3,500 chartered bus operators supported by a workforce of more than 13,000 drivers.

3.     From bringing international visitors to their destinations, to sending students to school, chartered buses supplement the public transport network in meeting our nation’s transportation needs. 

Need for Sector to Digitalise

4.     Like many sectors, our chartered bus service operators have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Tour buses operators, for example, saw a fall in passenger numbers because we now have no more tourists due to COVID-19.  School buses also have fewer students because many school activities remain suspended.  Similarly, chartered buses serving office workers also took a hit because now more people are working from home. This affects both public transport and also chartered bus services.

5.     To help the sector during these difficult times, the Government has worked closely with the three bus associations: the Express and Excursion Bus Association, the Singapore School Transport Association, and, last but not least, the SSPHBOA. These three bus associations – the Government has worked with you to put together the Private Bus Support Package.  This was announced in March this year. With the recent extension of season parking waivers at Government-owned car parks till end March 2021, the Private Bus Support Package will provide about $30 million worth of targeted support for the sector in total. To be clear, this does not take away all the pain because the only way for all the pain to disappear is for demand to come back, and that may take a while. But this package helps to cushion some of the pain.

6.     The crisis has provided an added impetus for the sector to also rethink its business processes, and prepare for a new operating environment. This is not just for private bus operators. It is actually true for the whole economy and for the whole society. Many things will take a while to resume and even when they resume, it may not be the same as before. It will not be business as usual. We have to be prepared and we have to think ahead and plan for the future. This is what this collective effort is for. It is to help all of us to plan ahead and be ready for the future.

7.     Prior to COVID-19, digitalisation had already started and this is part of the transport sector’s transformation.  Many of the solutions that we see today – such as shared and on-demand transport services – are made possible due to digitalisation, as it allows companies to process large volumes of data efficiently.  It is not humanly possible to manage all this volume of data. You need to find a way to do this efficiently. COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of technology, as companies recognised that this is a matter of survival. 

The IDP will Support the Sector in their Digitalisation Efforts

8.     However, transformation is also not easy to do.  It requires time and it requires resources, and in particular, for small and medium sized enterprises, a helping hand to guide them along the journey.

9.     This is why LTA and Enterprise Singapore have worked with SSPHBOA, and with strong support from the Infocomm Media Development Authority and SkillsFuture Singapore. It is a collective effort, with different Government agencies, together with the Association and companies. Through this collective effort, we are now launching the Industry Digital Plan for the chartered bus services sector.  The purpose is to help your members on their digitalisation journey – help them prepare for the future.

10.    Enterprise Singapore and SSPHBOA have developed a pilot for a new cloud-based SMART fleet management system.  It integrates different technology solutions into a common platform, such as route scheduling, digital payment and in-vehicle recording footage management solutions.  Companies can access different solutions from this one-stop shop. You do not have to go around hunting for different packages, different solutions, or worse, sometimes they may not be compatible and they may not work together. Part of this work has been done to help our companies to plug and play and prepare for the different solutions to come together through this common platform. This will help companies to save time and save money.  

11.    Adoption of these digital solutions will benefit both drivers and operators.  For example, many school bus drivers often receive phone calls from parents asking about their children – the whereabouts of their children.  With digital solutions, parents can track their children’s real-time location using a phone app without calling the bus driver. This is of course better for the parents because they don’t have to call, they can have the information conveniently available on their smartphone. For the drivers, they won’t have to take phone calls and can focus on driving. It is also better and safer.  

12.    For operators, digital solutions can help them to cope with last-minute changes to driver availability.  As it is currently difficult for operators to quickly find replacement drivers, some drivers may still report to work even if they are not feeling very well because there are no replacement drivers. The drivers are very responsible, and they do not want to let customers down or the company down. To enable services to run smoothly, we need to find a better way to allow companies and operators to find replacement drivers so that last-minute changes can be better dealt with. Now, with a driver management app, operators can quickly track the availability of drivers, and easily transfer job dispatches to replacement drivers. It is win-win. It is also better for the replacement drivers. They can get matched to openings more quickly.  This ensures minimal disruption to service, while protecting both drivers and passengers.

13.    Enterprise Singapore will also be providing financial support for you to implement the digital solutions – not just putting the packages together but there is also co-funding that Enterprise Singapore will provide to help defray and reduce the out-of-pocket payment by companies. This includes subsidising a large proportion of adoption costs when you onboard the pilot smart fleet management system.

14.    Besides digital solutions and financial support, another key area is skills upgrading for workers. This is something that is very important. Skills upgrading must go hand in hand with technology adoption. This is important to achieve the best outcome for the company.  

15.    The IDP contains a digital roadmap on training, which includes a catalogue of courses put together by SkillsFuture Singapore and Republic Polytechnic.  I hope you and your employees will find this roadmap useful for your learning journey.  

16.    SSPHBOA has started encouraging members to come on board and adopt these solutions.   

17.    Examples include Diamond Coach, Silveray Transport Services and Canossian School.  They are among those who have already started using digital solutions to improve their service and operational efficiency.  I encourage other members to also come on board – don’t miss out on the opportunities to transform your operations and enhance your competitiveness.  It is always difficult when you start something new, but help is available. Help is available to enable you to come on board. So please get on the bus so that you will not miss this journey.  

Concluding Remarks

18.    Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a challenging year for Singapore.  But we are, through our collective efforts, keeping the pandemic under control and taking steps to deal with the economic slowdown – helping our companies, helping our workers, building stronger capabilities and creating new jobs through investments and business expansions. We do this so that we can not just survive this crisis but also recover stronger from it.  Let us continue to work together, so that we can sail through this storm as one united Team Singapore.  

19.    Please allow me to conclude my speech with a few words in Mandarin.

a.     疫情带来了许多风雨不测的改变，所以我们在面对危机的时侯，必须齐心协力，风雨同舟，才能渡过难关。

b.     除了政府所提供的援助配套，我们也要好好地把握这个机会，帮助企业加强他们的能力，加强他们的竞争力，提升员工的技能。

c.     一个重要领域是帮助雇主和员工善用数码科技，加快企业转型。我们知道科技虽然不是万能，但在这个时代，不懂得应用科技，就万万不能。

d.     所以我呼吁大家踊跃地参与IDP计划，别害怕，别单枪匹马自己来， 也别犹豫。

e.     通过IDP的合作方式，我相信我们能够增加我们成功的机会。

f.     我祝大家身体健康，万事顺利。谢谢。

20.    Thank you.