Marine Parade shuttle bus service ferries 1,000 residents a week, costs $1m a year to run

SINGAPORE — Every week over the last three weeks, about 1,000 residents have taken a free shuttle bus service for residents in Marine Parade GRC, MacPherson and Mountbatten.

The free service costs about $1 million to operate a year, with the South East Community Development Council (CDC) supporting the pilot scheme with a one-off $200,000 grant, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan told Parliament on Aug 7.

"Essentially, the Government matches donations raised by the CDCs with grants, which the CDCs can use to support ground-up initiatives," Tan said.

The rest of the money comes from donations raised by the CDC, and by the respective grassroots organisations.

The total cost for the one-year trial, which started on July 8, works out to about $150,000 per division for each route. The South East CDC grant amounts to about $2,400 per division each month, he added.

CDCs were established in 1997 under the People's Association Act, which comes under the purview of the Culture, Community and Youth Ministry.

Tan was responding to questions from four opposition MPs about the shuttle service.

The seven shuttle bus routes in the Marine Parade cluster, he said, are operated by seven buses that ply the roads during non-peak hours from 10am to 4pm on weekdays, excluding public holidays.

To date, more than 10,000 Marine Parade cluster residents have registered for the shuttle, of whom more than 40 per cent are seniors aged 65 and above.

Tan said it is too early to assess if the service is effective.

He said that beyond utilisation, the financial sustainability of the free shuttle service is a critical factor.

"As the CDC grant was provided on a once-off basis, the Marine Parade town cluster grassroots organisations will have to eventually raise funds to cover the entire cost of operations, or refine its financing model for greater sustainability," Tan added.

Non-Constituency MPs Hazel Poa and Leong Mun Wai, both from the Progress Singapore Party, had asked whether funding can be made available to other constituencies, and if resources could be provided to launch free shuttle services in other areas.

Tan said: "Many previous attempts at trying out local shuttle services have been discontinued, because of low utilisation or financial challenges. Hence, there are still many aspects of the service to validate and refine through the pilot.

"The other CDCs will study the experiences and findings from this pilot first, before considering starting similar initiatives."

Explaining how the MPs of Marine Parade GRC, MacPherson and Mountbatten had decided on the need for such a shuttle service, Tan said several factors were considered.

He said there is a high proportion of residents who are seniors in the cluster, and the seniors had given feedback that it is more physically challenging for them to walk to transport, healthcare and community nodes as they age and get more frail.

Tan said a significant part of Marine Parade cluster also comprises older estates with narrow roads, and it is difficult for large public buses to serve these areas.

"In the past, a few grassroots advisers too have raised funds to organise such services in their respective divisions," Tan said.

"In the case of Marine Parade, they have decided to do it as a town cluster, and for the shuttle bus to ply designated routes, with a limited number of designated stops, such as at polyclinics, neighbourhood centres and MRT stations."

[[nid:696425]]

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.