Bus stop benches to be replaced with wider seats
Commuters will soon get to enjoy wider seats - some with arm rests - at more bus shelters.
The seats will be installed at about 2,000 stops operated by private vendors in a project expected to cost about $2.14 million, according to the Transport Ministry's 2019 expenditure estimates.
Such seats have already been installed at some of the Land Transport Authority's (LTA's) own bus shelters, which number about 3,000 islandwide.
An LTA spokesman told The Straits Times on Monday that the wider seats provide for more stable seating while the arm rests would enable commuters, especially the elderly, to sit and get up more easily.
The new seats will replace the bum rests and narrow seats that have been in place for more than 15 years in bus shelters built under the design-build-operate model.
These 2,097 shelters are set up by private vendors in exchange for a licence to show advertisements.
The LTA spokesman said the new seats will be installed during upgrading works and all new bus shelters will have at least one seat with arm rests.
Retiree Lee Yang Lee, 65, who lives in Bukit Batok West, said the bus stop benches in her area are of the older models so she is looking forward to the new ones.
"Some of the current benches are too high, so it is not very comfortable as you can only sit down halfway," she noted.
The cost of bus stop benches came under public scrutiny last year after reports that a man unbolted one and took it home.
Tan Ke Wei, 22, was sentenced to a seven-day detention order in October after pleading guilty to removing a grey metal bench worth $1,500 from a bus stop in Braddell Road.
The LTA noted bus stop benches cost between $500 and $1,500, excluding installation costs. They are expected to last at least 20 years with minimum maintenance.
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