LTA consulted on free shuttle bus service at Marine Parade cluster: Tin Pei Ling

SINGAPORE: The one-year free shuttle bus service pilot for Marine Parade cluster residents was designed in consultation with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and not decided “in a vacuum”, said Member of Parliament for MacPherson SMC Tin Pei Ling. 

“For the bus shuttle service, we have been consulting LTA for the routes and all, and so it’s not in a vacuum that we worked out this shuttle bus service,” said Ms Tin, whose constituency is among those which the shuttle service runs through.

She was responding to questions from CNA on why new bus routes were not added to the Marine Parade area in place of the free shuttle bus service. 

Residents living in Marine Parade GRC, MacPherson SMC and Mountbatten SMC will from Jul 8 have access to the new free shuttle bus service that will ply seven routes within these areas and bring them to amenities like polyclinics, hawker centres and MRT stations.

Ms Tin said that changes in the public transport system to address these needs may take more careful planning. 

“Our public transport network is complex, and so sometimes to add new stops, it may require careful study and planning, but while the needs are there, what we are able to do is to address some of these gaps,” she said. 

The free shuttle bus service can quickly address the needs of residents and is also “flexible” in adapting to new concerns. 

“We want to make sure we have flexibility and that we are able to do the necessary adjustments and decide on the next steps later on,” said Ms Tin. 

The initiative was announced on Jun 30 by the South East Community Development Council (CDC) and the People's Association (PA). 

Ms Tin also noted that the bus shuttle service is funded through CDC resources. 

CNA previously reported that the service will take up 5 per cent to 6 per cent of the CDC’s spending. 

“Each district will have different needs and people within each district and its different clusters will also have different needs they have to find the resources for,” she said. 

PUBLIC TRANSPORT REACH, FREQUENCY NOT ENOUGH 

Ms Tin said that some of the feedback on the Marine Parade cluster is that public transport may not fully reach “community focal nodes” and may also not be frequent enough, especially for last-mile connections. 

“The public transport system is maturing and has been serving us well, but parts of it require more connection, such as connecting to polyclinics and community centres, these are actually popular community focal nodes,” she said. 

She noted that even with the launch of the Thomson East-Coast Line Stage 4, which serves communities along Marine Parade GRC, there is still feedback that connectivity can be further enhanced. 

“With these observations and feedback, we thought as a cluster, that we can introduce a shuttle bus service,” she said.

She also said that the one-year pilot means changes can be made along the way, and more can be done at the end of it. 

“We are running this as a one-year pilot, so it allows us to, while we address the needs that we have come to know, to also study how in greater detail is it working well, how else can we refine this later on, and at the end of the pilot, we can assess what to do next,” said Ms Tin.  

She also responded to some comments on social media from residents of other constituencies outside South East CDC hoping for similar services. 

“We can only speak for our own cluster … whether or not it will be replicated will be for the others to decide,” she said.

The South East district comprises the Marine Parade Group Representative Constituency (GRC), East Coast GRC, MacPherson Single Member Constituency (SMC) and Mountbatten SMC. 

The service will be available from 10am to 4pm on weekdays, excluding public holidays. It will operate every 45 minutes to an hour, and a shuttle bus can ferry up to 22 passengers at a time.

The seven routes will serve the respective estates of Braddell Heights, MacPherson, Mountbatten, Geylang Serai, Kembangan-Chai Chee, Marine Parade and Joo Chiat.