Represented by the color brown on the rail map, the Thomson–East Coast Line (TEL) is a new Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. It is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by year 2024. Its completion will provide the residents in the East and along the North-South Corridor a faster access to the city.
The TEL’s development spans five different phases. When these phases are accomplished, it will serve approximately one million commuters a day. The first phase of TEL (TEL 1) opened for service last January 31, 2020. TEL 1 includes Woodlands North, Woodlands, and Woodlands South MRT stations. The second phase of the TEL (TEL 2) is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2021.
EXPERIENCING EARLIER DELAYS
Due to the circumstances brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and further system review, the second phase of the Thomson–East Coast Line had been delayed twice from its original target opening date. A system review was prompted by a five-hour disruption along the line last Dec 4, 2020.
In a glimmer of hope, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) handed over six MRT stations along the second phase of the Thomson-East Coast Line to SMRT last Friday (April 30, 2021). This entails that there will be nine operational stations in the TEL soon.
The six stations (TEL 2) that were handed over to SMRT included Springleaf, Lentor, Mayflower, Bright Hill, Upper Thomson, and Caldecott. The Caldecott station will become an interchange that connects to the Circle Line.
According to LTA: “The civil and structural works for the six stations have been completed, with some architectural, electrical, and mechanical works ongoing.
LTA has also completed rigorous testing and commissioning of the trains and systems for (the second stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line), including tests to ensure that the new stations operate seamlessly with the three (operating) stations.”
Train operator SMRT will continue with more tests to ensure everyone’s safety.
UPGRADE IN THE COMMUTER’S TRAVEL TIME
LTA highlights the convenience of faster travels upon the opening of the Thomson-East Coast Line’s second phase. By Q3 of 2021, residents from households near (i.e., within a 10-minute walking distance) one of the nine stations can expect travel time savings of up to 50%. For instance, a Sin Ming resident travelling to Republic Polytechnic by public transport will enjoy a 25-minute journey instead of the current 50-minute travel time.
More TEL stations will be opened in the next three years. Moreover, the Jurong Region Line and the Cross Island Line are still under construction. Let us stay tuned!
Capping off the year was the application of the price hike as suggested by the Public Transport Council (PTC). This is a part of the Fare Review Exercise, which affects the train and bus services (i.e., including Go Ahead Singapore, SBS, SMRT, and Tower Transit).
Notice your remaining balance for the past few days. You may tap out of a station and feel that you have been charged more than the usual rate. The same thing happened when you took the bus. It just does not add up, right? Well, you are not alone. The increase in transport fares began in December 29, 2018.
Adults who take the trains and buses will have to pay 6 cents more for the card fares. While, an adult cash bus fare and a single-trip train fare bumps up by 10 cents. Lastly, students and senior citizens are experiencing a cent increase in card fares.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
Many factors contributed to increase in fares. Firstly, the fare review came after the three consecutive years of fare reductions. In its press release last October, the PTC highlighted that the fare reductions totaled to 8.3%.
Secondly, the biggest contributing factor to the hike was the surge in energy prices. As the authorities track how much a bus or rail capacity has in relation to the ridership, they found that the real usage has not kept up with the capacity growth. Following this observation, the Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan agrees that raising fares are unavoidable due to the operating costs.
” PTC’s decision on fares seldom pleases all. Commuters do not welcome fare increases; operators need fare adjustments to keep pace with their operating costs. Against such challenges, PTC has chosen the right strategy to be open, transparent and fair. ” – Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan on a Facebook post
Lastly, the funds collected from the hike will benefit the SMRT Rail and the SBS Transit. The former will get about S$24.1 million more for its repair and maintenance costs. Furthermore, the funds will be used to increase the manpower for improved rail network performance. The latter will take about S$10.9 million more, which can be used to cover the operations and to adjust the salaries for the workers.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
Equipped with these information, may you always keep your EZ-Link cards topped up!
Singapore has always prided itself on being competitive. We thrive and prosper when we stay ahead of competition. To achieve this, the Singapore government has diligently invested large sums of money and committed significant efforts to various productivity measures and educational initiatives.
One of the noteworthy productivity controls would be the reduction of lean waste, commonly referred to as DOWNTIME, which stands for Defects, Overproduction, Waiting time, Non-utilised or idle people, Transportation time, Inventory surplus, additional Motion to obtain out-of-reach materials and Extra-processing. The practice of lean principles has all along been championed by Toyota, the top-ranking automaker for the third consecutive year.
However, such conventional wisdom seems to have eroded with time when applied to the overall Singapore economy. An inordinate amount of time has been squandered through our increasingly unreliable public transportation system, draining productivity and crippling our competitive economy. Once reputed as an efficient train system in the 1990s, the bread and butter of our economy is no longer a boon but a bane to realising our productivity goals.
Nonetheless, all is not lost. We are still capable of living up to the titles of being the second most competitive city in the world and enjoying the second best quality of life in Asia. All we need is putting the following measures in place to adequately combat the next SMRT crisis, which requires resolve and political will across different agencies.
Yesterday’s disruption of train services on both the green and red lines “stranded” more than a quarter of a million people due to the inadequacies of the existing public transportation system. In particular, the bus and taxi fleets were insufficient to cater to the large crowd of passengers during the peak hours.
This is expected as the bus and cab populations are merely 17,509 and 27,695 respectively according to LTA as of 2013. This means given that the average bus fleet operated is 3,777 and if we assume all the cabs are in commission by individual passengers at a given time, each bus has to accommodate at least 59 passengers, which is not significantly less than the total passenger capacity of a single-deck bus.
Faced with such circumstances, it would thus be wiser for the private car population of 540,063 to pick up the slack. While taxis are profit-driven, private cars are more inclined towards cost-minimisation. Therefore, for the future rail “disaster”, it would be in the shared interests of both private car drivers and commuters to exchange a convenient ride for a nominal fee. Probably $5 to $10, depending on the length of the ride?
The implementation process is simple. It could be as easy as putting up a sign on the windscreen or using a mobile app or a site to indicate the destination and pick up passengers on the way.
Nonetheless, this requires the exemption of legal hurdles stated in the “Road Traffic (Car Pools) (Exemption) Order 2015” as shown below in times of crises:
You cannot solicit passengers on a road, parking place or public stands.
The pick-up points, drop-off points, date and payment must all be agreed between driver and passengers before the start of the carpool ride.
In Japan, passengers board the back door and alight at the front door. This may seem counter-intuitive at first but try thinking again. Japan is well-known for its legendary public transportation system which is uber-efficient and super-punctual. It is way past due to learn from our equally – if not more – developed cousin in Asia.
With the current door orientation, a common vexation in Singapore is that many passengers are reluctant to move to the rear as much as possible to allow more passengers to be able to board the bus. However, if passengers were to board the back door instead of the front door, they would be able to choose between moving to the fore or the back and thus the passenger load is likely to be more evenly spread out. Fortunately, this is a psychological issue that can be expediently rectified with an engineering tweak.
LTA has announced in a press release that they will be extending the Free Pre-Peak Travel on MRT for another year to 30 June 2016.
That is certainly good news for commuters who take the effort to make changes to their daily routine — not only can they save money, it helps to reduce congestion and thus improving the ride satisfaction.
Commuters who exit before 7.45am at the 18 designated MRT stations* in the city area will not have fares deducted for their MRT rides.
Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport Mrs Josephine Teo said:
The proportion of commuters who have shifted their travel patterns due to the Free Pre-peak Travel scheme is significant and has stabilised after two years. The scheme is an important foundation on which we can build on for our other travel demand management efforts, which includes our Travel Smart Programme, Travel Smart Rewards and the new Off-Peak Pass[2] that we are introducing in July this year. We hope that more people, who are able and willing to shift their travelling times, will benefit.
* The 18 designated stations are Bayfront, Bras Basah, Bugis, Chinatown, City Hall, Clarke Quay, Dhoby Ghaut, Downtown, Esplanade, Lavender, Marina Bay, Orchard, Outram Park, Promenade, Raffles Place, Somerset, Tanjong Pagar and Telok Ayer.
How will a 2 to 5 cents increase per journey affects an average commuter? Credits to the Ministry of Transport, they have done up a table to illustrate the impact on monthly transport expenditure of an average family.
(Image credit: Ministry of Transport)
As illustrated above, a working adult would expect their monthly transport expenditure to increase between $2 to $3 a month. That would probably cost you a cup of Starbucks’ latte a month or a decent meal for two in a restaurant if you add up the expenses for a year.
Although it may not be sizeable, a dollar saved is still a dollar earned. Here are 5 ways to cushion the impact of a fare hike:
*Updated 14 Apr 2015 to include a chance to win a $10 EZ-Link top up with the LINE app
1. Claim $10 travel credits with TransitLink Service Audit
You may or may not know of that you can claim a $10 travel credit from TransitLink every month by just participating in a short survey. This survey is aimed at improving the service level of TransitLink’s staff and your feedback is important for them to evaluate their level of customer service.
Once verified, you will receive a SMS notification informing you of the $5 credit that you can redeem from any Add Value Machine Plus (AVM+)
How much can you save or earn a month?
You can do a maximum of one survey for two different Customer Service Officers per month. Each survey will earn you a $5 credit so you can get $10 credit in total a month.
With increasing population comes increased public transport ridership and there is that much that you can achieve by increasing train frequency. The Land Transport Authority is conducting a research to find out if incentivising commuters through gamification can help change the behaviour of commuters. Previously known as Insinc, Travel Smart Rewards is a scheme that rewards commuters for their travel on public transport.
Each commuter can earn points when they take the MRT on Monday to Friday with a CEPAS registered card at a rate of 1 points for every 1 kilometre travelled. To encourage commuters to take train during off peak hours, there will be more points for taking designated decongesting hours from 6.15 am to 7.15am and 8.45am to 9:45am. You can also qualify for different badges such as Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum with every travel during the decongesting hours.
Every 10 points allow you to spin and play a “Snake and Ladder” game to win travel credits. There are different amount to be won and the highest being a $200 travel credit which you can use to top up your fare card. You can let the system auto-play the game for you and you would be surprised to see that you can actually win money (in the form of travel credits) after some time. Just go to another Add Value Machine (AVM) and select “TSR Rewards” to load the credits into your card.
Verify your email address and it will take another 8 days for them to verify the card after you take at least 2 train trips
Start accumulating points with your train trips (Try to travel during the decongesting period to earn more points)
Spin the wheel or set it on auto-pilot
Check how much you win after some time
Load these credits you won onto your travel card at any AVM.
How much can you save or earn a month?
It depends. If Lady Luck is shining on you, you can earn a few hundred travel credits in the game. Otherwise, you should also be glad with a few extra dollars added to your account.
3.Travel free during pre-peak hours
In an effort to reduce congestion and packed trains in the morning peak hours, the LTA has extended the one year free pre-peak travel until 23 June 2015. That is to say early birds who make the effort to shift their daily travel routine and tap out of the 18 designated MRT stations will travel for free. Don’t fret if overslept by 5 to 10 minutes because you will still get a 50 cents off if you exit the stations between 7.45am to 8am. Like the saying goes: the early bird catches the worm.
What you need to do:
Reschedule your routine earlier
Have your breakfast near your workplace
How much can you save or earn?
The cost of an entire trip or 50 cents a day.
4. Make use of rebates
Rebate is one of the most straightforward way to offset your travel expenses. Whether you are using NETS FlashPay or EZ-Link to take the trains or buses, there are different rebate schemes out there for the savvy commuters to make full use of.
If you are using the EZ-Link card, you can earn up to 7% cash rebate with the Imagine American Express Prepaid Card. This card acts as a two-in-one and you can use it either for shopping with merchants that accepts AMEX card or using it simply as a Ez-Link card to commute. You will earn a 2% rebates by taking the buses or trains with the Ez-Link purse and 5% rebates on all other spends with the AMEX purse. (Tip: You can set up EZ-Reload where your Ez-Link purse will be topped up by the AMEX purse) You can also earn further rebates and rewards by topping up your Imagine Card with another credit card of your choice. For example, you can use the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card or the DBS Woman’s Card for 10X points.
What you need to do:
Decide if you want to use Ez-Link or NETS FlashPay as your primary card for public transport
NET FlashPay: go sign up for a OCBC Frank Card and register for auto top-ups on Nets FlashPay’s website here: http://bit.ly/1y8LSJe
Ez-Link: Sign up for a AMEX Imagine Card, then activate, register and reload it on the Imaginecard’s website here: http://www.imaginecard.com.sg
How much can you save or earn?
6% rebates for NETS FlashPay or 7% rebates + X* for Ez-Link (where X* is arbitrary – can be miles, rebates or points)
5. Use Off Peak Monthly Concession Pass
To further reduce bottlenecks during peak hours, the government will roll out a new Off-Peak Monthly Travel Pass (OMTP) on 5 July 2015 which will allow unlimited travel outside the weekday morning peak period (6.30am – 9am), evening peak period (5 – 7.30pm) and all days on weekends and public holidays. Instead of costing $120 for the current Adult Monthly Travel Pass, the OMTP will cost just $80 for adults and $40 for senior citizens and person with disabilities.
If you work out the maths, there are about 22 weekdays in a month so assuming a one way trip cost $1.80, if would have cost you close to $80 a month. (which is about the cost of an OMTP) The difference is you can now make additional trip on weekdays (say, a lunch break that is a few stations away) and weekends without paying the extra dollar.
What you need to do:
Work out your monthly travel expenses and see if it exceeds the cost of an OMTP of $80.
If it does, check if you can reschedule your daily routine
Make sure you tap IN outside the peak period timing (before 6.30am or after 9am for morning) and (before 5pm or after 7.30pm for evening)
How much can you save or earn?
If you travel twice a day with an average trip cost of $2, it would have cost you $120. Purchasing the card will allow you to save $40.
Now that you have learnt how to reduce your travel expenses, start to implement these tips so that you can better manage your travel expenses. You might even reduce your overall expenses on transport!
6. Get a free EZ-Link $10 top up with LINE (Updated 14 Apr 2015)
EZ-Link has just collaborated with LINE in a recent news release on 13 Apr 2015, commuters can now stand a chance to win a $10 free top-up and other attractive prizes when they use LINE.
What you need to do:
Download the LINE App from your Google Play or your Apple’s app store
Add “EZ-Link” as your friend
Send a message “EZ-Link EZ-Reload” daily from now till 31st May 2015.
Stand a chance to win EZ-Link $10 top-up values, LINE merchandises, electronic gadgets, jewelries and many more
How much can you save or earn?
If you are lucky, you can win a $10 top up to your EZ-Link or other attractive prizes such as a ASUS phone, Swarovski jewellery, Krispy Kreme treats, Mi Powerbank, etc
Do not be disappointed if you do not win as you can attempt this daily until 31st May 2015 and i’m sure you could win something!
