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Tag: LTA

  • Third-Party Taxi-Booking Apps Faces Impending Regulations

    Third-Party Taxi-Booking Apps Faces Impending Regulations

    Laws to regulate third-party cab-booking apps were proposed in Parliament today (April 13), which if passed will confer wide-ranging powers on the authorities to, for instance, amend, add to, or revoke codes of practice for specific providers, or across the industry.

    The Bill introduced by the Transport Ministry will also require third-party apps to register with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) before operating here, failing which they will be fined up to S$10,000 or jailed up to six months.

    The authorities can also impose sanctions of up to S$100,000 on providers that have failed to, among other things, comply with “any condition of registration (or) any direction given by the Authority”, and in severe cases, revoke the companies’ registrations.

    The proposed framework, first announced by the LTA last November, will also spell out the conditions registered providers must comply with, such as dispatching only licensed taxis and drivers and providing information on fare rates upfront to commuters.

    While app companies and transport experts whom TODAY spoke to welcomed the regulatory framework, they felt that it should not stifle innovation, which is critical to this industry.

    Hailo Singapore’s general manager Wong Yu Hsiang said web-based third-party booking firms thrive on constantly designing new practices that allow them to “better latch on demand and supply in the market”.

    One existing practice, which will be affected under the proposed framework, is to require prospective passengers to specify their destinations before they can make bookings.

    “While we understand concerns that taxi drivers may avoid taking bookings to certain destinations, having that requirement would allow better optimisation of the fleet and reduce downtime,” he said.

    He added that the current technology does enable third-party taxi providers to sieve out the cabbies who “constantly pick and choose”, and educate them.

    Mr Li Jianggan, co-founder and managing director of Easy Taxi Singapore, said the framework will give drivers and commuters more predictability.

    Echoing Mr Wong’s calls for room to innovate, Mr Li said: “Among the countries that Easy Taxi operates in, Singapore has been one of those more supportive of innovation, so we really hope that remains, even after regulations have been implemented.”

    Both men felt that the proposed laws give the authority more powers because theirs is a “fairly new industry”.

    “It makes sense (for the authority) to have flexibility to change the laws down the road…we don’t want them to over-regulate now and have to back-paddle later,” Mr Li said.

    National University of Singapore transport researcher Professor Lee Der Horng said the new framework may offer some reassurance for traditional taxi operators, but it may be difficult for the Government to accurately evaluate the performance of third-party apps.

    “You need a very sound basis to penalise people, but this becomes quite grey now because commuters’ booking behaviour is changing. At any one instance, commuters may use several apps to call for taxis but will eventually get on one, so it is hard to determine the matching rate and response time for each provider,” he said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Passengers To Get Cash Back If Train Is Two Minutes Late

    Passengers To Get Cash Back If Train Is Two Minutes Late

    Rail passengers will get an automatic compensation pay-out if their train is more than two minutes late under a new crackdown by the Government.

    Travellers will receive more money for every extra minute their train is delayed – with a full refund if it is over an hour late.

    Operators will be forced to sign up to the hi-tech ‘pay as you delay’ scheme which is designed to make it easier for passengers to get refunds.

    Ministers believe the scheme – to be trialled in one region this year but eventually applied nationwide – will end the perceived rail compensation ‘rip-off’.

    While train companies get massive automatic pay-outs from Network Rail if the track provider is to blame for a delay, individual travellers have to wade through reams of form-filling and red tape to get compensation. Research by watchdog Passenger Focus shows nine out of ten passengers never bother to claim.

    Crucially, the new scheme will compel train companies to pay out automatically. It will rely on passengers switching to new ‘smart’ forms of paying for tickets – such as over the internet, using travel smart-cards, with smartphone apps or even on conventional credit cards.

    These allow companies to pinpoint exactly who is travelling on which service – and who is due a refund. Compensation payments would be made directly into a passenger’s bank account.

    Under the scheme, commuters will receive compensation if a train is just two minutes late. They will receive an additional 3p per extra minute of delay – up to 29 minutes. If a train is between 30 and 60 minutes late, passengers will receive 50 per cent of the value of their ticket. Beyond an hour and they will get a full refund.

    Train punctuality will be measured ‘to the minute’ and ministers say the aim is to create an automatic ‘hassle-free service for passengers’.

    Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told the Daily Mail that trials of the scheme will begin in December with Essex-based operator c2c, with the aim of rolling it out across the UK as each rail franchise comes up for renewal. Among the next in line are Northern, TransPennine, West Coast, Midland Mainline and CrossCountry.

    The minister said: ‘If people are delayed, they should be repaid. I want to end the frustration endured by millions when they are delayed – and then have to jump through hoops to claim compensation. I’ve experienced it myself.’

    The growing trend towards the use of travel ‘smart-cards’ – such as London’s Oyster Card – cashless credit and debit ‘swipe’ cards and even smartphone payments will make the system increasingly widespread, say officials.

    One way of tracking the movement of passengers using open tickets or season tickets is to have them swipe their smart-cards as they get on and off a train, or at the platform entrance and exit.

    A Whitehall source said: ‘The new initiative … is expected to provide a longer term way forward to enable full automation of the compensation process where smart ticketing is in use.’

    Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

  • Lui Tuck Yew: Displeased Over Disruption, No Women-Only Cabins

    Lui Tuck Yew: Displeased Over Disruption, No Women-Only Cabins

    Key performance indicators such as the number of train withdrawals and service delays have been improving in recent years as a result of a change to the approach to maintenance adopted by public transport providers.

    “But while the statistics show improvement, the recent incidents are a stark reminder that we still have a significant way to go”, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said in Parliament on Wednesday (Mar 11).

    Mr Lui noted that for most of 2014, public transport operators have made “significant inroads in improving reliability”. For instance, the number of train withdrawals on the North-South (NSL) and East-West Lines (EWL) were halved to 1.1 per 100,000 train-km, compared to 2.2 in 2013 – back to 2007 standards.

    “I feel that we can do better in the coming years as this improved rate is still double that of the North East Line and Circle Line,” he qualified.

    Service delays lasting more than five minutes have also improved on the NSL and EWL, down to 1.3 in 2014 compared to 1.6 in 2012 – an improvement of close to 20 per cent, the minister said.

    Similarly, the withdrawal rate for the Bukit Panjang LRT had come down to 4.5 per 100,000 car-km in 2014, compared to 6.1 in 2012. For the Sengkang-Punggol LRT, it was 0.7 in 2014, compared to 1.5 in 2012, he said.

    Commuters were more satisfied with public transport last year. Survey results involving over 4,000 people showed satisfaction levels improving from 88.5 per cent in 2013, to 91.3 per cent last year.

    Satisfaction with train services hit 92.8 per cent, after a four-year decline, while for buses, it was up for a second year to reach 90.2 per cent, from 88.3 per cent in 2013.

    Mr Lui said: “It reflected the prevailing sentiments that commuters were starting to feel the effect of the improvements and investments that we have made in our buses and trains over the last few years.

    “And for the MRT, I must point out that we look at a range of attributes, from waiting time, to reliability to comfort and so on, and the attributes that had scored the highest for at least the past two years were safety and security.”

    ‘I AM MOST UPSET’

    However, a recent spate of breakdowns has shown that much work still needs to be done, said Mr Lui.

    “While I can accept the occasional breakdown or even a more severe disruption if it occurs very rarely, I am most upset with the current situation in the last few weeks,” he said.

    “The operators must persevere and redouble their efforts to do better. They need to intensify their maintenance regime, undertake additional preventive and detection measures, as well as improve their processes to enable prompt and effective response to maintenance issues,” he said, adding that his ministry will work with these companies to continue with track renewal and mid-life upgrades of their trains.

    The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will augment SMRT with additional engineering expertise where required, and will also step up audits of the latter’s maintenance procedures and resources.

    “In the event of a disruption, like in the Bukit Panjang LRT incident, LTA will require SMRT to deploy more service ambassadors to better assist commuters,” Mr Lui said. “I would like to assure Members that we will spare no effort to find out the cause of the recent spate of breakdowns, and take the necessary steps to stem the problems.”

    In January, the LTA announced a higher bar set for Singapore’s rail network to cut waiting times and disruptions. For instance, it plans to further tighten the Operating Performance Standards (OPS) for train frequencies during morning, evening and shoulder peak periods for the North-South and East-West Line, North East Line and Circle Line. This will be introduced progressively from 2016.

    By 2019, there will be 99 new trains, for the North-South and East-West Line, North East Line and Circle Line. Mr Lui said: “We are constructing these new lines at a pace unprecedented in Singapore’s history. By 2030, our rail network will be almost as dense as New York and London, and we would have achieved this in under 50 years, compared to the more than 100 years that it took the two cities.”

    “The overall train fleet will increase by about 50 per cent and we can expect that peak period wait times will come down by 25 per cent on average across all train lines,” he added.

    WHAT ABOUT WOMEN-ONLY CABINS?

    In response to suggestions by Members of Parliament Lily Neo and Low Thia Kiang to deploy women-only train cabins, Mr Lui said this idea had been raised and looked at carefully before.

    “There are practical difficulties and challenges, such as how to and how strictly to enforce the rule, and also how this could sub-optimise the capacity of our trains,” the minister said.

    “From the experience of other systems, the women-only cabins are often utilised less, meaning that more commuters will have to crowd into the other cabins or wait for the next train.”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Commuters Slam LTA And SMRT, Asks Lui Tuck Yew To Follow Suggestion Khaw Boon Wan Made To WP In Parliament

    Commuters Slam LTA And SMRT, Asks Lui Tuck Yew To Follow Suggestion Khaw Boon Wan Made To WP In Parliament

    It was reported that yesterday alone (3 Mar), SMRT was hit by two train service incidents, both during peak hours.

    In the early morning, a signalling fault at HarbourFront station on the Circle Line stopped all trains between Haw Par Villa and HarbourFront. And in the evening, track faults disrupted services on the East-West Line. Track faults at Clementi and Lakeside stations caused trains to slow down from Queenstown to Boon Lay. Commuters were advised to add 20 minutes to their travelling time between Bugis and Jurong East stations in both directions as bridging bus services were activated. Services resumed about 2 hours later.

    Many commuters were, understandably, angry with SMRT and lashed out at SMRT on social media (‘SMRT: Recent train incidents were ‘technically unrelated’‘).

    In all, there were 5 train disruptions in the spate of 9 days. LTA also joined in to condemn SMRT, saying that the situation is “unacceptable”.

    On LTA’s Facebook page yesterday, it said [Link]:

    “Today’s disruptions on the Circle and East-West Lines are the latest in a recent spate of incidents on the SMRT rail network. Commuters have been severely inconvenienced again. This is unacceptable.

    LTA has directed SMRT to investigate the various disruptions and give a full account of them. LTA is also conducting our independent investigations.

    LTA will be working with SMRT on the immediate remedial actions to turn around the situation. We expect the SMRT Board and management team to put in maximum effort and resources. We intend also to review again SMRT’s management of resources and processes for the maintenance of the rail system.”

    SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek was forced to come out to make, yet, another public apology.

    However, commuters were still not pleased. They also took the opportunity to slam LTA on its Facebook page:

    Shao Wei Chui Dear LTA, you most certainly do not keep my world moving. You keep mentioning that it’s “unacceptable” but so what? All that happens is a slap on a wrist on the transport companies and a fine but nothing changes and the fares go up to cover the fine

    Leon Chow: Don’t be a joke. If you all bother, things would not have gone out of hand. Useless jokers

    Shibly Mahmat: After investigate then what? Increase the fares again citing doing this for better service. Thats what you guys have been saying. But has the services ever improve? As far as all of us are concern, train disruptions due to faults are at an all time high now..is this your idea of better service?

    Evonne Sim: LTA, what can/will u do besides telling us this is unacceptable. How many times u want SMRT to investigate/explain! How many times we have to go thru these inconvenience over & over again! n what u going to do besides having endless meetings with no outcome? stop FINE SMRT as it will not solve any problem other than increasing their so-called operating cost n resulted fare hike. don’t juz lip service, we want to see action by the authority…

    Edmund Khor: you said you wanted to improve service.. but 4 years already, and it keeps getting worse. talk is cheap..

    Ken Ong: It’s all wayang. Lta n smrt management are pretty useless. They should all step down n resign.

    Calvin Xun Hui Wong: Another classic scene of relevant authority ‘takes action’ and ‘fine’ transport company, then on the other hand transport company takes the opportunity to raise fares with support from PTC (AKA the authority) to ‘improve transport system’. Its like LTA condemning SMRT but making the commuters pay their fines. So this is ‘action taken against SMRT’ ?

    Some even asked Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew to do what National Development Minister Khaw had suggested to WP MPs during the AHPETC saga, which Mr Khaw blamed WP:

    Rongjing Zeng: “In Japan, the chairman and CEO would call a press conference, take a deep bow and, in the good old days, they may even commit hara-kiri.” – KBW

    Gordon Teo: Why Tuck Yew haven’t hara kiri yet ah?

    Jabez Chai: What is our Transport’s Minister doing about it after so many years of breakdown and while doing nothing… He are being paid millions of dollars….

    Some questioned the rationale of approving the recent transport fare hike when the train services are “unacceptable”:

    Vasanthan Kanagasundaram: Could you also review why you think you deserve a fare hike.

    Ray Ng: Dear SMRT, the upcoming fare hike in April is not written in stone. please have the conscience to delay the fare hike in light of the recent train faults

    Robin Low: LTA, please justify why you allow price hike when there is no improvement and still lots of profits.

    Still, others think that it’s the fault of the government to increase the population of Singapore quickly by importing too many foreigners:

    Jeffrey Lim: So y import so many foreigners in the first place, if our mrt system can’t cope with it???

    Tan Cheng Siong Leslie: Nothing new. Cant imagine if population is 6.9, those top ‘elite’ mgmt dun care coz they dun take public transport, to them say a few words of apology n conduct investigation for show fat salary still goes to their pocket. TALK ONLY la.. Increase fare some more? Aiyooo, i so paiseh to say tat!

    Daniel Tan: Don’t blame SMRT, LTA. Blame the people who made the decision to overcrowd Singapore.

    Finally, one commuter said:

    “Main reason why I still hold on to my motorbike. Screw public transport. Now COE high, MRT haven’t improve, wanna encourage to take public transport. Screw that! I’ll never EVER let go of my motorbike!!”

     

    Source: www.tremeritus.com

  • LTA Tells SMRT That Spate Of Breakdowns Are Unacceptable

    LTA Tells SMRT That Spate Of Breakdowns Are Unacceptable

    The authorities are investigating the recent spate of train service disruptions on SMRT’s rail network and plan to review the operator’s resources and processes for maintaining the rail system.

    Calling the situation “unacceptable”, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it has asked SMRT to investigate the disruptions — with two incidents today (March 3) bringing the count to five in nine days — and provide a full account.

    “The LTA will be working with SMRT on the immediate remedial actions to turn around the situation,” a spokesperson said today. “We intend to review again SMRT’s management of resources and processes for the maintenance of the rail system.”

    This evening’s disruption on the East-West Line began at 5.35pm, when track faults at Clementi and Lakeside stations caused trains to slow down from Queenstown to Boon Lay.

    Commuters were advised to add 20 minutes to their travelling time between Bugis and Jurong East stations in both directions as bridging bus services were activated. SMRT later announced at 7.12pm that normal service had resumed.

    In the morning, a signalling fault at 7.28am at HarbourFront station on the Circle Line stopped all trains between Haw Par Villa and HarbourFront. Passengers on four trains had to be driven manually to the nearest stations, while free buses and seven shuttle bus services were activated. Service resumed at 8.11am.

    In a statement today, SMRT said it was looking into the cause of the Circle Line incident. It also gave an update on investigations into the three service disruptions last week — two on the North-South Line (NSL) and one on the Bukit Panjang LRT line.

    Investigations showed that the NSL incident on Feb 23 was caused by a damaged power collective device on the train that affected the third rail, which supplies power to the train.

    “A fleet-wide inspection of all trains that service the North-South, East-West Lines was completed to ensure all power collecting devices on the trains are in good condition. In addition, we have also inspected the third rail condition along the incident stretch of track to ensure that it is fit for use,” the operator added.

    The Bukit Panjang LRT disruption on Feb 24 was caused by a dislodged power and signal collecting assembly on an LRT train, which hit a signal rail and caused a power trip. The damaged signal rail had to be repaired. No anomalies were found during a system-wide check on all other trains and tracks.

    The third disruption occurred on the NSL on Feb 27, when a man climbed onto the track between Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Gombak stations. “We are reviewing the existing security measures at those sections with the relevant authorities to further reduce the areas of vulnerability within the network,” SMRT said.

    Commenting on the incidents, SMRT Trains managing director Lee Ling Wee said: “While SMRT’s investigations into these four incidents indicate that the cause of each incident was different and technically unrelated, we are clear that any service lapse for whatever reason affects the quality and reliability of service to our commuters.”

    He added that SMRT has noted the feedback over gaps in its service recovery efforts — in particular the bus bridging services — and will work with the SMRT buses team to better manage them.

    Mr Desmond Kuek, SMRT Corporation president and group chief executive officer, added: “We apologise for the rail incidents over the past week…The SMRT team will stay focused on safety and reliability improvements as we work to renew Singapore’s ageing rail network to the benefit of our commuters.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com