Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat said that the government takes a zero tolerance approach towards abusive behaviours directed at public transport workers.

This was in response to a question by Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Saktiandi Supaat on the recent incident where a bus captain was punched repeatedly by a commuter who boarded the bus without a mask.

Chee said: "Let me be clear. If you abuse our public transport workers, whether verbally or physically, be prepared to face the full consequences under the law."

The Senior Minister of State also commended the three passersby who stepped in to help the bus captain.

Chee, who met two of the good Samaritans, said: "We applaud them for their courage to step forward and do the right thing."

LTA will review measures to improve driver safety

In the past few months — post-circuit breaker — there have been a number of cases where the bus captains have been either verbally or physically abused for enforcing public health measures on public transport.

Saktiandi also asked a supplementary question on whether the Land Transport Authority (LTA) or the Minister of Transport will be willing to explore doing reviews of driver safety, like what was done in Queensland, Australia.

Chee said that there is an ongoing review that is being conducted with the operators and the unions, and he welcomes any suggestions for specific measures to be put in place to protect frontline workers.

Radin Mas SMC MP Melvin Yong also asked if the LTA would support scaling the installation of protective shields on all public buses. Yong is the executive secretary of the National Transport Workers' Union.

In response to Yong, Chee said that the suggestion was currently being discussed.

However, Chee mentioned that a key concern on protective shields from previous trials was safety - the glare from the shields might be distracting for drivers.

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Top image adapted from Gov.sg and SBS Transit Ltd.