Integrated public transport in Singapore and Hong Kong

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

When designing new interchanges, the aim should be to minimise the impedance associated with the transfers. Specifically, interchanges shouldbe designed so as to reduce walking distances, effort to negotiate stairs and ramps, and time between arriving and departure. In addition, elderly-friendly interchanges should have ancillary facilities (i.e. accessible toilets, convenience shops, etc.), be secure, well-lit and protected from the weather, and provide very good information.

Pedestrian Environment

A major difficulty for the older people is in getting to and frombus stops and stations. As every trip begins and ends on foot, walking should be properly integrated as one of the transport modes in the travel chain. Footpaths leading to bus stops should be given special attention and priority treatment. The design of footpaths, road crossings and pedestrianised areas should aim to create a stepless walkway environment.

Information Systems and Technology

A coordinated approach is needed to provide network-wide information at the trip planning stage. In addition to good information on connections and timetables, people with disabilities need information on accessibility features such as lifts, accessible vehicles, toilets at stations, etc.

The information should be clear, concise, accurate and timely. The presentation format is equally important: for visual information, there are guidelines on legibility, high contrast, colours, etc. New information technology holds promise to improve information content and delivery.TheEuropeanTELSCANProject(Naniopoulos 2001) has produced a database and guidelines on application of ITS for the benefit of older travellers. One example is the application of smart cards which can increase usability of ticketing machines and information terminals. A smart card with data on specific user impairments and preferences can generate a system request to allow for more time, large character display, audio messages, etc.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper has reviewed the activities and issues related to integrated public transport in Singapore and Hong Kong. In both cities, as in most other cities, the public transport systems have not developed from a common platform. The integration of these services could only happen with real, strategic effort and at a high level of cooperation amongst transport agencies and operators.

Singapore has demonstrated a systematic approach in implementing a package of measures for multi-modal travel, and has the benefit of a relatively new public transport infrastructure (the MRT and LRT) and the funding available from the Government. Hong Kong, on the other hand, benefits from its high density and the close proximity of the population to the many public transport systems available. Its transportinfrastructure is already well-integrated with land-use development but will stillbenefit fromberter designed interchanges.

Both cities have to pay attention to the role of the bus network in the promotion of rail travel. Another area of attention is the needs of the ageing population in an integrated public transport system. Integration takes time and money. A cost-effective measure in the short term is information integration - in the form of better signage, easy-to-use transit guide both in printed form and via the Internet.