During the peak-hour rush on bus service 168 along a TPE slip road, SBS Transit bus captain Lee Chee Chong’s heart skipped a beat when he spotted something unusual – a young boy carrying a school bag walking alone on the slip road. Concerned for the child’s safety, the 53-year-old father of three boys immediately got off the bus to help him.

Mr Lee, who has been a bus driver with SBS Transit for a decade, said he stopped his vehicle in front of a road crossing when the traffic light was red, and hurried across a lane to escort the boy to the bus.

He later learnt that the boy had missed his school bus and was trying to get to his primary school in Sengkang on foot.

Mr Lee continued with his shift and took the boy with him to Bedok Interchange, where they waited for the school’s teachers to pick up the boy.

Mr Lee’s quick thinking and act of kindness earned him a special commendation award at the Public Transport Safety and Security Awards (PTSSA) ceremony on Aug 22. Some 450 award winners were in attendance.

Organised by the Land Transport Authority, this event recognises the efforts of public transport workers and operators in keeping Singapore’s public transport network safe.

Among the 58 special commendation awardees – workers who swiftly averted safety incidents – were Mr Karthikesan Nagiah, 34; Mr Nor Elly Putra Abdullah, 23; Mr Balrin Singh, 34; and Mr Mohamad Asraf Mohamad, 46, from SMRT Trains. They helped to apprehend a man who assaulted two people, and tended to the victims.

The man had shouted at a woman and her daughter near the entrance of Commonwealth MRT station, before pushing them to the ground.

Mr Karthikesan instinctively sprang into action, chasing the man down and escorting him back to the station, while Mr Singh called the police.

At the same time, Mr Putra and Mr Asraf helped the mother and child by calming them down and tending to the girl’s busted lip.

“We felt super shocked when we saw the little girl fall,” said Mr Putra. “No man should lay hands on a woman. It’s not right.”

At the PTSSA ceremony, another 246 awardees received the Star Awards that were given out to people who developed new tools that enhance public transport safety.

Mr Natheniel Saw, 45, was one of them. The senior manager for technical services at Tower Transit Singapore helped incorporate artificial intelligence into the transport operator’s existing 360-degree camera system to warn bus drivers of potential hazards. Functioning as a third eye for the bus drivers, this feature alerts them to blind spots and oncoming vehicles through voiceovers that include directions of where the hazards are in relation to the bus.

This is now being trialled on 47 buses in Tower Transit Singapore’s fleet of more than 700 vehicles.

Mr Saw came up with this tool after bus drivers told him that they needed a way to identify hazards in blind spots when performing certain manoeuvres, such as changing lanes.

Speaking at the ceremony held at HomeTeamNS Khatib on Aug 22, Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling cited recent examples of public transport incidents abroad, such as a derailment in south-west Germany that killed three, and a Bangkok-bound train that also came off the tracks.

Commending MRT workers for looking out for commuters, Ms Sun said that whenever there are train faults, their priority is to ensure that passengers can alight safely.

She added that bus drivers also give priority to commuters’ safety even when they have strict schedules to meet, especially in making sure that elderly or vulnerable passengers are seated before moving off.

‍