S$1 million a year to operate Marine Parade cluster shuttle bus service, most funds raised through donations: Alvin Tan

SINGAPORE: The shuttle bus pilot in the Marine Parade cluster will cost approximately S$1 million (US$750,000) to operate over a year, with S$200,000 coming from a seed grant from the South East Community Development Council (CDC), and the rest from donations. 
Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan revealed this quantum in parliament on Wednesday (Aug 7) as he answered several questions from Members of Parliament on the one-year free shuttle bus service that was launched on Jul 8. 
The service, which sees buses plying seven routes that serve seven divisions within the Marine Parade cluster, will cost approximately S$150,000 per division, Mr Tan added. 
He said that the S$200,000 “one-off seed grant” from South East CDC came from the matching grants that the government provides to every CDC.
“Essentially, the government matches donations raised by the CDCs with grants, which the CDCs can then use to support ground-up initiatives that foster a cohesive and inclusive community,” said Mr Tan. 
The funding from South East CDC will amount to about S$2,400 per division per month, he said. 
The rest of the S$1 million came from donations raised by the CDC and the Marine Parade cluster’s grassroots organisations, he added.
To date, over 10,000 residents have registered for the shuttle service, of which over 40 per cent are seniors aged 65 and above, and around 1,000 have taken the shuttle service every week over the past three weeks, he said. 
“The pilot has just started, and it is still too early to make an assessment on the effectiveness of the service,” he added.
Mr Tan also responded to questions from Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh and Non-Constituency MPs Hazel Poa and Leong Mun Wai from the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) on whether similar services will be considered in other constituencies.
Mr Tan said that operating an efficient and successful shuttle service at this scale is “not straightforward”. 
“Many previous attempts at trying out local shuttle services have been discontinued, because of low utilisation or financial challenges,” he said. 
He said that, eventually, the Marine Parade town cluster will have to raise its own funds to cover the entire cost of the operation, as the CDC grant was provided on a once-off basis. 
“Hence there are still many aspects of the service to validate and to refine through the pilot,” he said. 
“The other CDCs will study the experiences and findings from the pilot first before considering starting similar initiatives.”
Opposition MPs asked additional questions about the shuttle bus service, ranging from how it affects public transport plans to the artwork on the buses. 
Mr Singh asked if the service would make it more challenging for the authorities to undertake future bus service rationalisation exercises, given that it was announced about a week after new Thomson-East Coast Line stations opened in Marine Parade. 
This is on the back of “significant public unhappiness” from residents over the removal of bus services with the opening of new MRT lines, the Workers’ Party chief said. 
He also asked if the shuttle bus service would “open the door” for the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to introduce similar cluster bus services elsewhere in Singapore through the public transport system. 
The MP for Aljunied noted that LTA had earlier this month announced the S$900 million Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme to boost bus connectivity over the next eight years. 
Mr Tan said that questions on connectivity should be filed as a separate parliamentary to LTA, which is under the Ministry of Transport. 
Minister of Transport Chee Hong Tat then responded to Mr Singh’s questions, saying that the initiative in Marine Parade is a community initiative that is separate from the public transport network. 
He added that LTA will continue to rationalise and optimise bus routes that run parallel to MRT lines, but that the savings from this cannot fully support the bus services needed in new estates islandwide. 
This is why the new enhancement program was kick-started to pump in additional resources to meet these connectivity needs.
PSP’s Ms Poa then asked why the free shuttle service is only limited to residents of constituencies within the Marine Parade town cluster.
Mr Tan said that the service is part of a “local community project” that is unique to a particular area. 
He added that if Singaporeans have an idea for their community that they want to suggest, they can do so by submitting a proposal to entities such as their respective CDCs to look into. 
MP Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) then asked a question on why the cluster’s grassroots advisers who are also PAP MPs are “fronting” the initiative by, for example, having caricatures of their faces featured in the liveries of the shuttle buses.
Mr Tan referred to Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong’s response on Tuesday to a written parliamentary question filed by Mr Leong from PSP to a similar question. 
Mr Tong said in his reply that the buses have drawings of iconic Marine Parade landmarks as well as caricatures of Marine Parade grassroot advisers, which and whom local residents can “recognise and be familiar with”. 
“This makes it easier for residents to identify the buses, and build awareness so more residents can use the buses to get to their destinations,” said Mr Tong. 
He added that this is not dissimilar to other grassroots programmes which have banners of the grassroot advisors hosting the programmes. 
Mr Leong had also asked about the cost of the images on the buses. 
“The cost is part of the overall contract with the bus operator so we do not have breakdowns on the cost of this aspect alone,” said Mr Tong. 
Editor’s note: This article has been amended to reflect that Mr Tan had addressed Mr Giam’s question on why the MPs’ faces were featured on the shuttle buses. We apologise for the error.