SINGAPORE – While passengers’ satisfaction levels with public transport held steady in 2023 compared with the previous year, fewer were content with bus waiting times, according to an annual poll by the Public Transport Council (PTC).

Some 93 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with public transport in Singapore, similar to 93 per cent in 2022. But this is still much lower than the 99.4 per cent in 2019.

There was a four per cent drop in the satisfaction of bus passengers in the area of waiting times, from 80 per cent in 2022 to 76 per cent in 2023.

Noting the decline, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that manpower challenges have impacted the ability of the public transport operators to tackle operational emergencies, such as traffic delays, bad weather, or staffing shortages due to medical leave.

It added that the public transport operators have also been increasing their local recruitment efforts to attract more bus captains, but there are still vacancies and meeting full staffing requirements remains a challenge in the tight labour market.

The authority also said that the existing pool of bus captains are also working hard to meet new needs, by plying additional trips to improve the frequency of existing services based on passenger demand and being redeployed to bus services serving newer estates.

The online survey – conducted annually since 2006, with 2023’s edition being carried out from Aug 14 to Sept 24, 2023 – polled 5,037 users aged 15 years and above, to better understand passengers’ needs and identify areas for improvement.

Respondents of the survey scanned QR codes at transportation nodes and the SimplyGo app to participate.

They were asked to rate their satisfaction levels of bus and train services in eight categories on a scale fr...