Oral Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan to Parliamentary Question on Bridging Services

Miss Cheng Li Hui asked the Minister for Transport 

a.     how large is our reserve fleet of buses and drivers; 

b.     whether it is sufficient to minimise disruptions caused to commuters during MRT breakdowns; 

c.     whether there are plans to involve taxi companies and their network of taxis during such disruptions to minimize the impact on commuters; and

d.     whether there is a system currently in place to hold the operators to task in cases of service disruption.

Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan:

1.     It is not prudent use of resources to maintain a fleet of reserve buses and drivers to cater purely for train disruptions. In the event of a prolonged disruption, operators will use buses that are off-duty or cross-deploy buses from less crowded services to provide bus-bridging services.  Taxi companies are also alerted to inform their drivers of high demand areas along the affected routes, so that more drivers can make their vehicles available in these areas. 

2.     As part of their licenses, rail operators are required to have a robust Rail Incident Management Plan, which includes accurate and timely information dissemination and the provision of bus bridging services. LTA will take regulatory action if there are failings in the implementation of this plan.