The Ministry of Transport (MOT) is confident that with increased investment in public transport infrastructure, Singaporeans won't need to buy quite so many cars in the future.

This assessment was delivered by Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min in Parliament on Nov. 6. He was replying to a question asked by Saktiandi Supaat, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

Saktiandi had asked whether the recent announcement on cutting the growth rate for cars to zero would have an impact on our existing public transport infrastructure.

But Lam explained how MOT's investments would help make life easier for car-bereft Singaporeans. The measures include expanding the reach of both the rail and bus services. Said Lam:

"There will be less need to own a car."

Rail

• Expanding the rail network by over 30% within the last five years, totalling 230km.
• Expanding fleet size for existing MRT lines by almost 50%.
• By 2030, 8 in 10 households will be within a 10 minute walk from an MRT station.

Bus

• 80 new bus routes by end-2017.
• 1,000 new buses by end-2017.

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COE, commercial vehicles not significantly affected

Lam clarified that the new policy would not significantly impact COE prices, as those are mostly determined by vehicle de-registrations.

He also fielded a question from Desmond Choo, MP for Tampines GRC, who asked if the policy would affect the e-commerce industry. Lam said that the new policy does not affect commercial vehicles, which will maintain a 0.25% growth rate until at least 2021.

"This is to provide businesses with more time to improve the efficiency of their operations."

Still, MOT must have faith in the reliability of our public transport infrastructure if more people are being gently nudged away from car ownership.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Gif from Tessera.[/caption]

Top image from YouTube.