18 Nov 2008
Speech by Guest-of-Honour, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Raymond Lim, at the NTWU 27th Anniversary Dinner on 18 November 2008
Comrade Lau Lye Hock, President of the National Transport Workers' Union
Comrade Fang Chin Poh, General Secretary of NTWU
Comrade Seng Han Thong, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Secretary for the National Transport Workers' Union
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. I am pleased to join you this evening to celebrate the 27th anniversary of the National Transport Workers' Union.
2. I last met all of you on 1 April this year. We discussed the new initiatives under the Land Transport Masterplan, which we had just unveiled in January. Many of you welcomed the Masterplan, especially the strategic thrust to make public transport a choice mode. I thank you for your support.
3. At the same time, I heard many constructive suggestions. Mr Fang Chin Poh had suggested more consultation and engagement with stakeholders, including NTWU representatives. This was a good suggestion. I am pleased to note that we have made progress and taken some steps forward. For example, the Land Transport Authority, union representatives and the management of the public transport operators have held several active and robust discussions on the trial to allow foldable bicycles on board buses and trains. A workgroup on taxi issues has been formed. It has met several times in the past eight months to discuss and deliberate on issues that impact taxi drivers, such as the common taxi call-booking number, taxi arrangements for Formula 1, and the ongoing programme to extend bus lanes. Through these efforts, we reaffirm the spirit of tripartism, to act together as partners in Singapore's progress.
Public transport : A Choice Mode
4. Even as we strengthen our relationships with one another in the past months, the external environment has shifted rapidly to become more volatile. The fallout from the U.S. financial markets has reached Asia and affected the real economy. Consumers and investors have turned cautious, and growth is slowing down.
5. However, we should not be too gloomy in the land transport sector. Public transport is a counter-cyclical industry. When times are tough, and people want to save money, they take more public transport and drive less. On 17 August, the Straits Times ran a news article on how to save money. It highlighted public transport as a viable alternative to the car. One of their journalists decided to give up her car for a week and take the bus instead. She managed to save quite a bit of money, and wrote that "Bus fares and three cab rides [in the week when I didn't drive] cost $36.12. The week before, I had racked up $137.80 in parking, ERP and petrol … excluding car loan repayments, insurance charges and maintenance costs."
6. Quite a number of people are taking this advice. Public transport ridership has increased by some 8 percent in the first eight months of this year, compared to the same period a year ago. We expect growth to remain robust and strong through the economic downturn, and this in turn means that the public transport operators will continue to need more workers.
7. But we don't want people to see public transport as merely a 'cheap' option, suitable only when times are tough or petrol prices are high. Singaporeans are becoming more discerning and demanding – they want 'quality with affordability', in other words, 'cheap and good'. So going forward, we will decisively transform public transport so that its quality improves, and it becomes a choice mode of transport. We want commuters to stick to public transport, even when the economy recovers subsequently and they can afford to drive, because they find public transport fast, convenient, reliable and comfortable. We are therefore building more rail lines, doubling the rail network by 2020, and putting an MRT station within 400m of anywhere within the city area. And we are improving bus service levels, by tightening the Quality of Service (QoS) standards and putting in more Premium Bus Services (PBS).
8. All these measures mean that the demand for workers in the public transport industry will only increase. SMRT has put in more than 800 additional train trips a week since the beginning of this year. SBST is buying 400 new buses next year. From now till 2020, we expect the number of daily journeys on buses, trains and taxis to double from 5m to 10m. To meet this demand, the operators will require more bus captains, more service leaders, and indeed, more workers overall. There will be more, and better, employment opportunities for all.
9. Some taxi drivers are worried that the economic downturn means fewer people will take cabs. Fluctuations in the price of diesel mean that taxi drivers may take home less money when prices are high. But the outlook for the industry remains robust in the longer term. We should not see our transport system as one where the choice is between either the car or the bus and train. Rather, our transport system comprises a whole continuum of transport options from mass transport, to premium services to personalised transport. As more commuters make the shift towards public transport, there will be more occasions when they would prefer the convenience of a more personalised transport option. Taxis make it easier for commuters to give up their cars. Hence taxi drivers also have a role to play as we grow the overall public transport pie in the years ahead, and will also benefit as we make a decisive shift towards public transport.
Launch of Customer-Centric Initiative
10. Although the public transport sector will continue to grow, it does not mean that we can be complacent and wait for our customers to come to us. Transport is a service industry, and we have to continually improve our ability to meet, and even exceed, the expectations of commuters.
11. The World Economic Forum, in its Global Competitiveness Report, ranks countries according to various factors. In the degree of customer orientation, Singapore was No. 8 in 1998. Then we slipped out of the top-10 rankings for many years. We returned as No. 10 only this year. In comparison, Hong Kong climbed from No. 29 in 1999 to No. 8 this year. We need to strive to be better.
12. I understand that it is not an easy task. Good service requires effort and commitment, especially in the transport sector where the work is demanding. For example, bus captains have to guide a large bus safely through heavy traffic, keep to schedule and ensure passengers' safety, all the while greeting commuters with a big smile and maintaining a helpful and friendly attitude. Several months ago, one of the young officers from LTA told me she once spent a day shadowing a bus captain, following his daily routine. The bus captain was on the first duty in the morning shift. He went to work at about 3.30am, while most Singaporeans are still asleep, and was at the bus depot before 4.30am. He had to pick up the bus, check its condition, and be ready to pick the first passenger at 5.30 in the morning. The LTA officer said that by the time the shift was over at about 2.30 in the afternoon, she was completely exhausted even though she was only following the bus captain and didn't actually do his work!
13. Frontline staff such as bus captains face the customer, but they cannot improve customer service all by themselves. They need the support of their managers and company executives as well.
14. Hence, I am pleased today to announce the launch of the Customer-Centric Initiative (CCI) for the land transport sector. This initiative will build upon the earlier CCI for taxis launched in February 2008, and expand in scope to also encompass buses and trains. It will bring together workers, employers and Government agencies to offer a nationally certifiable training programme for our workers. The training programme will develop workers' skills in customer service, make their skills portable across the industry and raise the overall image and professionalism of the industry. It is also a signal of commitment from employers and the Government to support and encourage workers, as all three parties work in close collaboration towards the goal of service excellence.
15. The CCI for the taxi sector is already well on its way to train more than 5,000 taxi drivers by the end of May 2009, and will train more in the years ahead. With the enlarged scope of the CCI for the overall land transport sector, we will see some 6,500 bus captains, service leaders and frontline office staff from SBST, SMRT and TransitLink trained by the end of 2009. Private transport operators offering chartered and school bus services, such as ComfortDelgro Bus and Woodlands Transport, will also add another 1,100 workers to the programme. These numbers will grow as more workers go through the CCI training programme in the years ahead. All in all, we expect that the CCI for land transport will eventually touch nearly 60,000 workers, or more than 80 percent of the workforce in the sector.
Conclusion
16. By focusing on the customer, the CCI provides a timely boost towards achieving the vision of our Land Transport Masterplan: a people-centred land transport system. The 'people' we are centred on are not only the commuters who take our buses, trains, and taxis, but also the people who serve these commuters every day – you, the workers.
17. I commend your enthusiasm for the CCI, and wish you every success in the journey towards service excellence. Thank you.