PEOPLE are spending more time commuting - and ironically, it may have to do with the growth in recent years of the MRT network, and with it, the removal of some bus services.
In its General Household Survey 2005, the Department of Statistics (DOS) found that the bus is the fastest public transport mode, followed by the MRT. Trips that involve taking both bus and MRT take the longest.
But although buses are the public transport network's fastest way to get around, the proportion of commuters who can take a straight bus to work has fallen from 25 per cent in 2000 to 21.9 last year. In those same five years, the proportion of commuters who take just the MRT went up from 8.6 to 10.1 per cent, and those who need to take both bus and train went up from 13.9 to 15.1 per cent, the DOS found.
The increased reliance on the MRT has come about because of the removal of several bus services plying the north-east sector with the opening of the North-East Line (NEL) in 2003.
Bendemeer resident Lau Sau Kuen, who is in her 30s, used to have a choice of five bus services to town. Now, she said she has only one - for which she has a long wait. 'And when that bus does show up, it is very crowded, so I'm forced to take the MRT,' said the businesswoman who now takes a bus to Boon Keng MRT station on the NEL, where she catches a train to town.
Farrer Park resident Praveen Nayago, 28, a sales consultant in Orchard Road, said he could take four direct buses to work before the NEL came up - services 54, 92, 111 and 106. Now, he takes a train from Farrer Park station to Dhoby Ghaut interchange and switches to another train to Somerset station. 'It is a hassle,' he said.
Other than those who live near MRT stations, commuters notice they need to make more transfers nowadays.
Housewife Beverly Wong, 36, a Punggol resident, said she has to take a bus or the LRT to Punggol station to catch a train to town, as 'there is no more direct access' to the city.
However, a poll by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) found that, overall, most public transport journeys do not involve transfers. Only 23.1 per cent of all trips, including non-work related commutes, involved transfers. The LTA poll confirmed that bus ridership has fallen by 13 per cent to 2.785 million rides a day since 2000. In that time, MRT rides have shot up by one-third, to 1.338 million a day.
The cut in the number of bus services along MRT routes is the result of a conscious effort by operators not to duplicate resources. However, this thinking has raised questions in some quarters. Mr Lim Jit Poh, chairman of transport giant ComfortDelGro, has suggested that bus and train services be operated by separate companies to encourage inter-modal competition.
christan@sph.com.sg
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