Free Marine Parade shuttle bus service costs S$1 million a year, mostly funded by donations

The free shuttle bus service recently launched for Marine Parade residents costs S$1 million to run annually and is largely funded by private donors, Minister for State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan said in parliament on Aug. 6.

Tan was responding to questions about how the shuttle service will be funded, and whether similar services might be made available in other parts of Singapore.

The service was launched as a one-year pilot on Jun. 30 by advisers of Marine Parade GRC, MacPherson SMC and Mountbatten SMC.

It is provided by the People's Association (PA) and South-East Community Development Council (CDC).

It runs through all seven divisions in the Marine Parade cluster and operates during non-peak hours on weekdays, excluding public holidays, from Jul. 8.

Bus service to serve elderly in community

Tan said in his speech that the service was proposed by Marine Parade Town Cluster grassroots advisors to complement public transport and provide better connectivity for residents, especially seniors.

Tan pointed out that much of the cluster comprises "older estates with narrow roads" which are "difficult to be served by large public buses".

The shuttle bus plies designated routes and stops at places like polyclinics, neighbourhood centres and MRT stations.

Tan disclosed that over 10,000 have since registered for the shuttle, of which over 40 per cent are seniors 65 years and above.

Around 1,000 residents have taken the shuttle service every week over the past three weeks, he added.

Tan said that PA had consulted the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to ensure that the shuttle bus services would not adversely affect public bus operations when using bus stops.

Service to cost S$1m per year, largely privately-funded

Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh and Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Hazel Poa asked about the cost of the service and how it will be funded.

Tan said in his speech that the shuttle bus pilot costs approximately S$1 million to operate annually.

It covers a total of seven routes and works out to about S$150,000 per division, he noted.

As for the funding, Tan noted that the South East Community Development Council (CDC) supported the pilot with a once-off seed grant of S$200,000.

This amount was from government matching grants provided to every CDC to support ground-up initiatives for the community.

"The rest of the amount and, in fact, the majority of the amount was raised from donations raised by the CDC, as well as by the respective grassroots organisations," Tan added.

When Poa asked if such funding can be provided to other constituencies, Tan clarified that the initiative is "largely private donor-funded" with majority of funds contributed from donors in the Marine Parade town cluster.

He added that Singaporeans with similar ideas for such ground-up initiatives can approach their own CDC or the the SG Partnerships Office with their proposals.

Will it be rolled out to other parts of Singapore?

Singh asked if the LTA would consider introducing similar cluster services elsewhere in Singapore.

Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat responded that the Marine Parade shuttle bus is a "pilot community initiative" and "therefore separate from the public transport network".

Chee reiterated LTA's announcement on Jul. 30 that it would support connectivity needs of residents in Singapore, by spending up to S$900 million to improve bus services over the next eight years.

Tan also commented that in the context of improving connectivity, other divisions had trialled similar bus services, such as bus services to a local mosque over the Ramadan period or to bring seniors to get vaccinated.

Many of these previous attempts were discontinued due to low utilisation or financial sustainability concerns, Tan said.

He added that the Marine Parade shuttle bus pilot would be reviewed after one year to assess if it would be suitable for other divisions in Singapore.

Why does the bus have pictures of grassroots advisors?

Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai and Aljunied GRC MP Gerald Giam asked about what led to the decision to include images of grassroots advisors on the buses.

In a separate written parliamentary reply on Aug. 6, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong noted that the buses feature drawings of Marine Parade landmarks and caricatures of Marine Parade grassroots advisors as local residents are familiar with and can recognise them.

Such landmarks include the likes of Wisma Geylang Serai and Old Airport Road Market and Food Centre.

"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. This is not dissimilar to other grassroots programmes which have banners of the grassroot advisors hosting the programmes," Tong added.

Top image from Edwin Tong / Facebook