Free Marine Parade shuttle bus routes see starkly different levels of ridership

SINGAPORE: A free shuttle bus service for Marine Parade residents is seeing starkly different levels of ridership, with some routes having close to zero passengers at certain times but others having over 20 passengers. 

Responding to CNA's queries, a spokesperson for the Marine Parade grassroots organisations said that the service has seen "steady usage across most routes". 

Nevertheless, the initiative will be refined based on ridership data and residents' feedback. Schedules or routes may be adjusted before the end of the year, the spokesperson said.

The service was launched on Jul 8 on a one-year pilot for residents of Marine Parade GRC, MacPherson SMC and Mountbatten SMC.

About three months on, CNA reporters took four of the seven routes offered to residents to check the popularity of the service every weekday over two weeks and spoke to passengers on their feedback.

The service, which would cost S$1 million (US$776,000) a year to operate, is funded by a S$200,000 one-off grant from the South East Community Development Council (CDC) with the rest coming from donations raised by the CDC and the Marine Parade grassroots organisations. 

In August, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan told parliament that the Marine Parade town cluster will eventually have to raise its own funds to cover the entire cost of the operation, with "many aspects of the service to validate and to refine" through the one-year pilot. He added that other CDCs would study the experiences and findings from the pilot first before considering starting similar initiatives.

Under the pilot, the seven routes run across Braddell Heights, MacPherson, Mountbatten, Geylang Serai, Kembangan-Chai Chee, Marine Parade and Joo Chiat, with buses calling at amenities such as polyclinics, hawker centres and MRT stations.

CNA reporters found that two routes had close to zero passengers on some days, while others were significantly more popular as the buses were half-full at morning and lunch timings. They also found that ridership tended to peak in the morning and taper off in the afternoon. 

The service is targeted at the non-working crowd and runs during off-peak hours – 10am to 4pm on weekdays, excluding public holidays. 

Each route has between five and seven stops, and runs in a loop lasting between 35 minutes and more than an hour.

Residents can register by downloading the TongTar Riders app or can visit a community club in the area, where they can sign up for a card to take the shuttle service. 

They will have to scan the app’s barcode or tap their card to board the bus.

EMPTY BUSES ON SOME ROUTES

CNA reporters took the Braddell Heights, Mountbatten, Kembangan-Chai Chee and Marine Parade routes over five consecutive weekdays. 

They then counted the number of passengers who boarded the bus in one loop, including those who boarded or disembarked at various stops. Each bus had around 23 seats. 

While numbers recorded for the routes diverged drastically, passengers were mostly seniors.

Braddell Heights saw a maximum of six passengers among all 10 rides a reporter took, with five out of 10 rides having no passengers at all the entire route. 

Kembangan-Chai Chee had a maximum of two passengers – on two rides – but the reporter counted only one passenger on seven out of 10 rides. 

In contrast, the Marine Parade route had at least 13 passengers on all of its morning rides, though numbers dwindled to between three and seven for afternoon rides. 

Comparably, the Mountbatten route had between 10 and 25 passengers for all rides, with the demand for afternoon rides – at 12.30pm – exceeding morning rides at times. 

BUSES NOT FREQUENT ENOUGH, RESIDENTS SAY

Passengers who took the shuttle bus on the Marine Parade route said they appreciated its convenience but that it was not frequent enough. 

Seniors also liked the connection to polyclinics, and a number of repeat passengers were seen taking the shuttle bus throughout the week.

One of them was Mr Low Peng Sum, who took the shuttle bus from Marine Parade Central to Eunos Polyclinic, located near his house, a few times. 

Mr Low, 73, who walks with a cane, said he did not venture out of his house much but started doing this more often with the shuttle bus service, which gave him an incentive to exercise. He underwent surgery on both his knees a few years ago.  

The retired accountant said he often goes to Marine Parade Central for banking services and dining options. Asked about the shuttle’s ridership, Mr Low said it was too soon to assess its popularity. 

"You need time before people get used to it, and it's more of a service for those retirees," said Mr Lim, adding that the elderly needed time to get used to the service and figure it out. 

"It's worth the money to help seniors ... A lot of the non-financial benefits, you cannot put in dollars and cents."

Mrs Claire Heng, a Mountbatten resident who takes the shuttle bus several times a week, including to SingPost Centre for groceries, said many residents did not know about the bus service.

"If there can be greater awareness, I believe more people will take the bus," she said, recounting how her elderly neighbours had to take a taxi to and from PLQ shopping mall but could now take the bus.

Other residents had gripes over the timing of the shuttle bus. 

Marine Parade resident Richard Xu complained that the app timings were inaccurate. Although he timed his arrival at the shuttle bus stop according to the app, he had to wait more than 10 minutes.   

"You don’t ask me and the (elderly) to wait for one hour, half an hour. I’d rather pay (for the public bus)," said the 76-year-old retiree, who was heading to Dunman Food Centre for lunch. 

Passengers at Braddell Heights and Kembangan-Chai Chee said some of the stops were either not near the places they frequented, or went through too many private housing estates. 

Speaking to CNA after getting off the Braddell Heights shuttle bus, Mdm Lim Meow Hoo, who lives in Serangoon, said she had boarded the bus thinking it would take her to the Marine Parade area.

She did not know that the shuttle buses ply different routes, and that the one at Braddell Heights does not go to the Marine Parade estate. 

Nevertheless, she was disappointed that it only looped around several housing estates in Serangoon. 

“There was nothing much … the bus didn’t really go to the markets, or any shopping area,” said the 80-year-old retiree. 

Housekeeper Irene Peh, who stays in Chai Chee, was aware of the free shuttle service but had never used it, preferring to rely on public buses. 

"It's difficult to wait for the shuttle bus because the timings don't align with mine. If I miss the bus then I'll have to wait," the 64-year-old said in Mandarin. 

"Anyway, I can take the public bus wherever I want to go, it's convenient. I buy the monthly concession pass for both bus and MRT, it's just S$58 a month and I can take as many trips as I want."

EFFORTS ONGOING TO RAISE AWARENESS

The Marine Parade grassroots organisations said the number of registrations for the service has increased by 45 per cent since the start of the initiative.  

Over 13,000 residents in the Marine Parade cluster have registered, of which over 45 per cent are seniors aged 65 and above. 

The shuttle bus service has been "particularly appreciated" by this group, many of whom said it has solved their last-mile problem, the grassroots organisations' spokesperson said. 

While the afternoon buses get lower ridership compared with the morning buses, this aligns with typical commuting patterns as residents run their errands earlier in the day, the spokesperson added.

As for routes with lower ridership such as Braddell Heights, the grassroots organisations are working to increase awareness among residents such as through social media, digital platforms and promoting the initiative at community events. 

The grassroots organisations also said they regularly gather feedback from residents on the initiative.  

For example, some residents said the step to board and alight from the bus was too high, so retractable steps were installed on the buses, the spokesperson said. 

Additional reporting by Natasha Ganesan.