Coming in 2025: Bigger fares discounts, more express buses

Public transport users who shift their travel schedules to avoid the morning rush hour are set to receive up to 80 per cent in fare discounts, in an effort to better manage peak-hour crowding on buses and trains, especially in north-east Singapore, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat.

This is part of a planned refresh of the Travel Smart Journeys scheme, which will cover more bus services than it did before.

For the first time, the scheme will be extended to the rail network too, focusing for a start on journeys beginning from the Punggol, Sengkang, Buangkok and Hougang MRT stations on the North East Line (NEL), and the Punggol and Sengkang LRT stations, Mr Chee said in an interview on Dec 3.

Additionally, the scheme will offer incentives to NEL passengers who shift their travel times to either pre-peak-hour or post-peak-hour periods. Today, rail passengers enjoy fare discounts only if they tap in before 7.45am.

The bigger fare rebates, Mr Chee said, are aimed at spreading the peak-hour load on public transport, while sharing the resulting cost savings with passengers.

The Travel Smart Journeys scheme, launched in 2020, has been suspended temporarily since Nov 25 to pave the way for the refresh.

Details of the upgraded scheme will be provided later in December, according to the website of transit ticketing provider SimplyGo.

Under the scheme’s earlier format, participants who used seven eligible express bus services between 7am and 9am – instead of the congested NEL – were awarded points worth $1.50 per eligible trip.

The points could then be redeemed for travel credits, which would have potentially offset more than half of the bus fares paid.

With the refresh, the idea is to provide more impactful fare discounts, at up to 80 per cent, to further incentivise passengers to change their travel behaviour, said Mr Chee.

Speaking to reporters at his ministry’s office in Alexandra Road to round up the year, Mr Chee also gave updates on several highly anticipated rail projects, and discussed a broad range of issues, including distance-based road pricing and a separate certificate of entitlement category for private-hire vehicles.

He also expressed confidence that Changi Airport’s passenger traffic in 2025 will exceed the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Apart from fare incentives, other steps will be taken to ease the load on the NEL, which hit an average daily ridership of 588,000 passenger trips in the first half of 2024. This is 2.2 per cent shy of the 601,000 daily trips made in 2019.

Four new City Direct bus services – 675, 676, 677 and 678 – will start operations from Jan 2, 2025, taking north-east residents to the Central Business District during peak hours.

The new express routes are being introduced under the Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme (BCEP), which has already led to the addition of City Direct Service 673 in October to serve Punggol West residents.

Under the $900 million programme, five existing City Direct services have also been given additional capacity or had their routes extended so that more passengers can use them to travel from Punggol, Sengkang, Buangkok and Hougang to the city.

Mr Chee, who became transport minister in January, said the north-east is a focal point, given the new developments in the area. “It’s important for us to make sure that we have adequate capacity, through both the MRT and buses,” he added.

The minister noted that 29 existing bus services have benefited from the BCEP so far, with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) adding more bus trips and adjusting routes in response to changes in ridership and demand.

This is on top of the new bus routes that have been introduced under the programme, including a first-of-its-kind express feeder bus service in Tampines.

New bus services will also be rolled out elsewhere.

From Jan 12, 2025, a new feeder bus service 967 will ply the roads in Woodlands, providing better connectivity to Marsiling and Woodlands South MRT stations, and amenities such as the Woodlands Health Campus.

By February 2025, bus service 230 in Toa Payoh East will also be extended to serve Toa Payoh Lorong 7 and 8, and Caldecott MRT station. This extension was supposed to happen by the end of 2024, but more time is needed to build the bus stops for the service to be rerouted, said Mr Chee.

After this initial tranche, LTA will continue to look at additional bus services that can be introduced under the BCEP in old and new towns, he added.

“(It is) still early days, but I’m happy to see that the initial response from our residents, and also from our operators and public transport workers, has been positive.”

Asked if he was concerned about the deficit for public buses growing larger as a result, Mr Chee said the authorities are prepared to accept a lower cost-recovery ratio – the ratio of fare revenue to operating costs – during the initial periods when ridership will be low.

“We shouldn’t wait until the estate is better developed, and more people have collected keys and moved in, (before) we introduce the bus services,” he said.

With the new funding allocated to the BCEP, Mr Chee said, the authorities now have a greater ability to introduce bus services, instead of having to rely on rationalising existing routes to free up resources.

“We still have to use the resources prudently, but at least it gives us more leeway and more options to be able to meet the new demand in different parts of Singapore.”

In response to queries, a Transport Ministry spokesman said it is too early to tabulate the costs of the improvements under the BCEP so far.

LTA is also actively monitoring the new BCEP routes, and will review the benefits of the enhancements as they stabilise about six months after the roll-out.

Meanwhile, Mr Chee noted that LTA’s efforts to make it easier for people to walk and cycle have also been given a significant boost, with a $1 billion kitty set aside for transport infrastructural improvements over the next decade.

One example of how these funds will be used is the conversion of a staircase at Exit C of Braddell MRT station to a down-riding escalator.

As there is insufficient land to build a lift at that exit, a high sheltered walkway will also be built across Toa Payoh Lorong 2. This is so that wheelchair users and those with prams or trolleys can have sheltered access to the lifts at other exits, Mr Chee said.

“This is not the only place where we will do this,” he added.

Mr Chee was also asked about bus and train fares, and how the Government intends to make up for a 12.9 per cent hike that has been rolled over to future fare review exercises.

He said the financial gap is being paid for by the Government through public funds for now to avoid a situation where public transport operators are not paid enough to cover their rising costs.

Yet, Mr Chee said, this should not become a permanent arrangement and the plan is to reduce the gap slowly when the opportunity arises.

“This has to be done very carefully because you do not want the total increase to be too high, which will then make the fares unaffordable,” he said. Adult card fares are set to rise by 10 cents for every MRT and bus ride from Dec 28.

Mr Chee noted, however, that the authorities should also have the discipline not to write off these outstanding arrears. “That is not being honest about it,” he said.