The inaugural Bus Safety Roadshow was opened by Senior Minister of State for Law and Transport, Murali Pillai, on Aug. 23 at Toa Payoh HDB Hub.
Jointly organised by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Ministry of Transport, the roadshow gave members of the public booths and presentations on safety tips for bus passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.
In his speech at the roadshow, Murali gave examples of the changes that were being implemented to improve bus safety since recommendations were announced in March this year.
Murali spoke about strengthening enforcement against traffic violations that affected buses, giving the example of an LTA trial of an Artificial Intelligence-powered system that analyses onboard CCTV cameras to detect and identify vehicles encroaching on bus lanes automatically.
Bus intrusion can pose a safety risk as bus captains could be forced to brake suddenly, causing passengers to fall.
The Singaporean bus fleet has progressively been equipped with new technologies, such as 360-degree collision warning, anti-fatigue and camera mirror systems, beginning with the procurement of 660 new electric buses from March 2025.
Another recommendation that has already been implemented is limiting the run-time for newly introduced bus services to less than two hours, addressing concerns that had been raised directly by bus captains.
Furthermore, existing bus routes with run-times of over two hours are being reviewed, and where practicable, adjusted.
One such example was Tower Transit’s Service 858, which runs over 70km from Woodlands to Changi Airport and back, the longest route in Singapore.
Drivers were now able to take a break at the midpoint, after Tower Transit implemented a mid-route driver swap strategy.
According to an LTA press release issued in conjunction with the event, there would be enhanced training programmes for bus captains.
The BC Drive Safe refresher programme will be increased from three to five sessions a week by the end of the year, which will allow more bus captains to attend, as well as introducing a standardised industry-wide training point system by the end of 2026.
The minimum duration of meal breaks for bus captains will be extended to 30 minutes, according to LTA's press release. This will progressively be extended to the entire bus captain workforce in the coming years.
Murali said that the role of a bus captain was not an easy one and lauded them for their multiple responsibilities.
In addition to the difficulty of driving such a large vehicle on busy streets while staying on schedule, they were tasked with helping commuters navigate, helping vulnerable passengers board buses, and ensuring the safety of all their passengers.
But Murali also acknowledged the part that other road users played, saying that he was heartened to see groups such as the Automobile Association of Singapore, the Singapore Cycling Federation, and the Handicaps Welfare Association, among others, present at the event, saying that bus captains needed the support of “commuters and other road users to be more safety conscious”.
Murali announced that the Bus Safety Roadshow will become an annual event, to regularly spread the message that “everybody has a part to play” in road safety, echoing Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s National Day Rally speech, saying that “we should look at this as ‘we’, not ‘I’”.
The Bus Safety Roadshow was one of the recommendations by the Bus Safety Tripartite Taskforce (BSTT) to raise awareness and promote public bus safety among commuters and road users.
In addition to the booths and presentations, interactive activities were held, including a bus simulator, so that members of the public could experience driving a bus.
The event was opened by Murali, who paid tribute to the role that public buses played in moving Singaporeans, noting that nearly four million journeys were made on buses, with over 6,000 buses on Singaporean roads at any one time.
The event was held on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24.
