Opening Speech by Senior Minister of State for Transport Murali Pillai for Second Reading of Transport Sector (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2025

1.     Mr Speaker, on behalf of the Acting Minister for Transport, I move, ‘that the Bill be now read a second time’.

2.     The Transport Sector (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2025 or the TSMA Bill in short, seeks to make various amendments to land and sea transport-related legislation and a related amendment to the Public Utilities Act 2001.

Bill Provisions

3.     The Bill covers five key areas.

BSIA

4.      First, the Bill reinforces our efforts to make our public transport system more secure and more comfortable for all.

5.     As announced at MOT’s Committee of Supply debate this year, we intend to regulate the conduct of commuters to prevent inconsiderate behaviour on public buses and bus interchanges. Through the proposed amendments, we will align the regulatory framework against inconsiderate behaviour across trains and buses.

6.     Examples of such behaviour include:

a.     Littering and consumption of food and drinks; or

b.     Causing a nuisance or annoyance to other passengers, such as by playing loud music or videos on mobile phones.

7.     Those who contravene the regulations will face penalties commensurate with how the proscribed conduct impacts on other bus commuters, with higher penalties for repeat offenders.

8.     To enable the intent, Clause 2 (a), (f) and (i) of the Bill amends the Bus Services Industry Act to provide for regulation-making powers to regulate the conduct of bus passengers and members of the public, which includes prohibiting disruptive and nuisance-causing behaviour onboard buses and at bus interchanges. The Regulations, which will be made later, will take reference from existing regulations under the Rapid Transit Systems Act (“RTSA”), which prohibits certain behaviour within the MRT network. 

9.     Clause 2 (i) also includes a new Part 7A that provides for the screening of bus passengers and entrants to bus interchanges, and prohibits the carriage of dangerous items onto buses and in bus interchanges. These provisions are currently found in the Road Traffic Act 1961 and are now being consolidated in the Bus Services Industry Act 2015. Hence, this is not a new requirement at law. It is also aligned with the same requirements under the Rapid Transit Systems Act which deals with the MRT system,

10.    In addition, Sections 42AC and 42AD of the new Part 7A also provides that it will be an offence for someone to wilfully do anything or omit to do anything in relation to a bus, bus depot or bus interchange thereby endangering the safety of anyone on buses or within bus depot or bus interchange, or cause damage to anything that is part of any bus, bus depot or bus interchange. These offences will be aligned with existing offences provided for in Sections 25 and 26 of the RTSA in relation to railway and railway premises. Once this Bill is passed, we will be able to set out the prohibited behaviours in the regulations, and take enforcement against those who do not comply.

11.    With these changes, authorised officers, such as LTA enforcement officers, and public transport staff like ticket inspectors and interchange staff who are empowered by LTA to carry out enforcement, will be able to better protect members of public at bus depots, interchanges and public buses.

PTCA

12.    Second, Clause 4 amends section 32 of the Public Transport Council Act (“PTCA”) to allow the Public Transport Council (PTC) to grant an application by bus operators to withdraw monies from the Fuel Equalisation Fund (FEF) that they originally contributed. The withdrawals can be granted for reasons unassociated with the original purpose of the Fund.  

13.    The Fund was set up in 1992 to mitigate the effects of transient increases in fuel or electricity prices. Operators contributed to their own FEF accounts when energy prices fell below a reference price, and could apply to PTC to withdraw funds when energy prices were higher. With the implementation of the Bus Contracting Model in 2016, the impact of any increases in the fuel price and electricity tariff on bus operators is already mitigated, as the Government pays service fees to the bus operators which are indexed to the corresponding energy prices.

14.    Therefore, this amendment seeks to allow bus operators to withdraw monies that they had contributed to the Fund over the years before contributions were suspended.

15.    Third, Clause 4 also raises the maximum composition sum under the PTC Act from $500, to $10,000 or half the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence, whichever is lower. This will allow PTC to increase the deterrence effect of composition sums imposed against point-to-point transport (P2P) operators for breaches under the PTC Act. 

16.    For example, this could cover instances where a ride-hail platform operator charges incorrect fares arising from system errors. At present, the maximum composition sum of $500 under the Act is not commensurate with the severity of the offence, as operators are otherwise liable on conviction to a fine of up to $100,000. Therefore, this offence is not currently prescribed to be compoundable. With these amendments, we will be able to prescribe this offence as a compoundable offence, and to offer composition of up to $10,000 per offence in less egregious cases.

MPAA

17.    Fourth, Clause 6(f) amends the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Act 1996 to empower MPA to demarcate deposit sites for the dumping of objects and materials, such as dredged and reclamation materials. Clause 6(e) allows MPA to prescribe fees, with the approval of the Minister for Transport, for the use of these deposit sites. These fees recover MPA’s costs in relation to the deposit sites, including developing, managing, monitoring and maintaining the deposit sites, monitoring the deposit of materials at the deposit sites, and investigating the impact of the deposits on the surrounding seabed and marine environment. These matters are essential to ensuring safe navigation and safeguarding the environment. The fees were originally introduced by the then-Port of Singapore Authority and subsequently continued by MPA when it established in 1996. They were not formally prescribed in legislation as then-PSA and MPA had regarded them as charges for private contractual services.

a.     Following the Auditor-General’s Office’s FY2024/2025 report, MPA has been advised that the fees must be prescribed in legislation. This amendment will therefore provide legislative basis for MPA to continue collecting such fees.

b.     As MPA has already incurred significant costs in maintaining the deposit sites and managing dumping activities since 1996, and has been collecting fees in connection with the dumping activities, Clause 7 will also validate the past collection of such fees up to the commencement of the new provisions.

Miscellaneous

18.    Fifth, Clauses 3, 6, 8, 9 and 10 introduce several operational and housekeeping amendments to the Multimodal Transport Act 2021, the MPA Act 1996, the MPA (Amendment) Act 2017, Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and a related amendment to the Public Utilities Act 2001. These include provisions to simplify processes and better manage MPA’s operations in this digital age to achieve greater efficiency, provisions to renumber section numbers of provisions enacted in a 2017 Act, as well as amendments to ensure that terminology used in the Multimodal Transport Act 2021 is consistent with our international obligations.

Conclusion

19.    Mr Speaker, some of the amendments I am moving today are the legal equivalent of housekeeping – such as aligning the requirements of law across different transportations modes.

20.    But the crux of the Bill is to strengthen the foundation of the public transport system itself. A shared vehicle – whether a train or a bus, in a dense, fast-paced and highly networked city – is only safe if we guard against the worse of our base instincts – whether against those who wish us harm, those whose behaviour are boorishly unreasonable in a public space or even those who do not comply with our collective understanding of what it means to respect the rights and space of other in close proximity.

21.    This Bill sets out to all parties the expectations of specific forms of compliance when travelling on public transport, deters anti-social and harmful behaviours and ensures a safer and more salubrious experience for all.

22.    Sir, I beg to move.