MRT rides surge to a high
Monthly total hits 44m in a sign that drivers are leaving cars at home
By Yeo Ghim Lay
FFORTS to get drivers to ditch their cars for public transport appear to be working.
Commuters took 3.6 million more train trips on SMRT trains last month, pushing the month's total number to a record 44.9 million.
The previous high was logged in May, with 41.9 million trips.
SMRT put the increase in ridership down to the Government's push for a greater use of public transport in order to keep traffic gridlock at bay.
The public transport operator, in comparing ridership on trains between June and July, noted that July had one day more and more weekdays as well; it was also when most people returned to work after their June vacations.
The surge in ridership on the East-West and North-South lines coincided with a jump in the cost of driving.
July was when five new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries went up in the city, charging up to $2 to pass under them from 6pm to 8pm on weekdays; two of the five sited along the Singapore River also began collecting road tolls on Saturdays between 12.30pm and 8pm.
Driving through existing Central Business District gantries also became more expensive from July 7.
ERP charges were not the only thing hitting motorists in their pockets: Petrol prices too, played a part in pushing some to take the train.
Dental surgeon Michael Lim, 45, for example, who frequently goes to town in the evenings from his Bedok clinic, no longer drives to Raffles Place or Orchard to keep his appointments.
Four times a week since late June, he has been leaving his car at the Raffles City Shopping Centre and taking a train to his destination.
He said: 'It doesn't make sense to drive there anymore. I'd have to pay for ERP everywhere, and looking for a parking lot in Orchard takes time too.'
Parking at the Raffles City carpark on weekday evenings costs him a flat $2.50.
'Besides, all the walking up and down escalators at the MRT stations is good exercise for me,' he quipped.
Another driver who is driving less now is Ms Foo Jye Huah, 33. She started taking the North-East line to her workplace near Clarke Quay from her Farrer Park home this month.
Said the manager: 'The train may be packed during peak hours, but it is bearable because my ride takes only 10 minutes.'
Previously, she found herself paying $3 to pass under two gantries to get to work. Her train ride now costs only 81 cents each way. She reckons she has saved over $100 in ERP and carpark charges and petrol in just two weeks.
With more people getting on the trains, SMRT will from Monday begin handing out breakfast discount flyers to the early birds who exit selected downtown MRT stations between 7am and 7.30am.
This is an attempt to encourage people to make their trips earlier, before the trains become really crowded during the morning peak hour. They carry up to 800 commuters each between 7am and 7.30am in the city, and pack in 1,400 from 7.30am to 9.30am.
The nine stations where breakfast discount flyers will be distributed are Orchard, Somerset, Dhoby Ghaut, City Hall, Raffles Place, Lavender, Bugis, Tanjong Pagar and Outram Park.
With these flyers, commuters can buy beverages and breakfast foods more cheaply at participating merchants like Spinelli's and Toast Box between 7am and 8.30am on weekdays.
The discounts are on top of the current 10-cent savings commuters get for boarding trains outside the city and alighting in the city before 7.30am.
SMRT's director of transport planning Chew Hooi Lian said: 'We want to raise awareness of this current scheme and reward commuters with delicious breakfast offers when they choose to travel earlier before the peak hour kicks in.'
The breakfast discounts will end on Oct 31, but the 10 cents off the fare will continue for early-bird commuters.
