Integrated public transport in Singapore and Hong Kong

Road & Transport Research, Dec 2003 by Luk, James, Olszewski, Piotr

Existing MRT stations are upgraded to achieve better integration. These include:

* Woodland MRT/bus interchange;

* Novena MRT station integrated with nearby commercial development;

* Dover MRT station with roadside bus stop; and

* Toa Payoh MRT station with a relocated bus interchange.

More attention is given to the architectural design of new MRT stations from both the aesthetic and accessibility points of view. Safe and easy walk paths and elevators are now provided for all users, especially for the ageing population and those on wheelchairs (see section on Issues Related to The Ageing Population).

Network Integration

Network integration requires substantial funding and takes time to achieve. The MRT network began with three radial routes from the CBD, followed by the Woodland extension in the north to connect two of the three radial routes (Figure 1). The completion of the North-East Line is expected to increase the percentage of population within the catchment area (800 m from a station) from 19% to 24% (Konopatzki 2002). The construction of the Circle Line will further provide a circumferential linkage of middle area suburbs.

These and other new proposals for MRT construction will provide a better-integrated MRT network on its own. However, the current daily volume of MRT / LRT passengers is about 1.1 million compared with the 3 million bus passenger trips (Table 2). The catchment area of the bus network is very extensive with 90% of the population living within 300 m of a bus stop. The bus network is currently the backbone of the public transport services supporting about 41% of all motorised trips.

With further investment in MRT / LRT, it is important that the bus network and the rail network are properly integrated. There are suggestions to use the bus (or LRT) network only as a feeder service to MRT so that there is less surface road congestion on arterial roads. The MRT network is to provide the major share of the long haul travel. In changing the role of the bus network, it is important to ensure that current bus users are not penalised with a walking distance s ubstantially longer than the current 300 m in order to catch a train. The issue of network integration becomes even more important if bus trunk routes are no longer provided.

Fare Integration

A single fare card usable on all public transport modes greatly facilitates integrated transport. Singapore introduced a magnetic stripe, stored-value TransitLink fare card in 1990 for bus/rail travel. A contactless smart card, called the EZ Card, was introduced in 2002 as a common fare card for all bus, MRT and LRT services. The EZ card project was designed by the same company (the ERG Group of Australia) that implemented the Hong Kong Octopus Card (contactless) and the Melbourne Metcard (magnetic stripe). Other applications suitable for the EZ card include park-and-ride and small retail purchases.

The impacts of such a system are efficiency gain and operating cost reduction. In a trial study on the use of the EZ Card, the boarding time of a bus was found to decrease by 62% compared with cash payment, and 34% compared with magnetic transit cards. In Hong Kong, it was also found that the cost of coin collection and counting was about 8% of the revenue and this cost has been substantially reduced. Each day's taking can now be reconciled within 24 hours instead of the usual three-day delay when cash constituted a significant portion of the revenue.