Written Reply by Minister for Transport S Iswaran to Parliamentary Question on Adjusting Bus Service Reliability Framework Targets in Light of Bus Captains Affected by COVID-19 Infections and Related Quarantines

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Transport whether bus operators have asked for targets under the Bus Service Reliability Framework (BSRF) to be adjusted in light of bus captains being affected by COVID-19 infections and related quarantines.

Reply by Minister for Transport S Iswaran

1.     The Bus Service Reliability Framework (BSRF) was introduced in 2016 to incentivise public bus operators to improve the timeliness of bus arrivals for the benefit of commuters. The target arrival times are set as a range, to provide bus captains with some flexibility under different traffic conditions.

2.     In the past few weeks, more bus captains have been absent from work because of the COVID-19 clusters at our bus interchanges. LTA and the public bus operators have worked closely to minimise the impact on bus operations, while ensuring our bus captains continue to have enough rest time between their shifts. The tighter manpower situation has led to longer waiting times for some bus services. The situation has improved slightly as infection numbers decrease and more bus captains come back to work, but it remains fluid.

3.     LTA will exercise flexibility in assessing the performance of bus operators during this challenging period.