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Satisfaction With Public Transport Stays High In 2019
7 February 2020
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Mean satisfaction score for reliability saw largest improvement.
Commuters continued to be satisfied with Singapore’s public transport in 2019, according to the annual Public Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey (PTCSS) commissioned by the Public Transport Council (PTC). The annual survey was conducted from September to October 2019.
The annual survey, conducted from September to October 2019, showed that overall public transport satisfaction remained high, with the mean satisfaction score for public transport at 7.8 (out of 10) in 2019. It was 7.7 in 2017 and 7.9 in 2018.
Largest Improvement in Rail Reliability
Reliability, ranked as the most important MRT attribute by commuters, improved the most, from 7.6 in 2018 to 7.9 in 2019. This can be attributed to the significant improvement in the MRT network’s Mean Kilometres Between Failure (MKBF), from 690,000 train-km in 2018 to over 1 million train-km in 2019 – a result of increased maintenance efforts by public transport operators and Government’s investments over the years.
Commuters’ satisfaction with MRT services in 2019 remained high with a mean satisfaction score of 7.7 (out of 10).
Besides reliability, service attributes such as comfort and waiting time saw improvements in score, up from 7.4 in 2018 to 7.6 in 2019 and 7.6 in 2018 to 7.7 in 2019 respectively.
Bus Satisfaction Remains High
Bus services continued to perform well in 2019, maintaining a mean satisfaction score of 7.9. There was significant improvement in the mean satisfaction score for waiting time from 7.4 (out of 10) in 2018 to 8.0 in 2019. This could be the outcome of the improved service levels with the Bus Service Reliability Framework, which incentivises the operators to minimise excess wait time for commuters.
About the Public Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey
The PTCSS was carried out by Nexus Link Pte Ltd, an independent market research consultant, between mid-September and early October 2019 with 4,997 commuters at MRT stations, bus interchanges and bus stops during both peak and off-peak hours. This is an annual survey conducted since 2006. The aim of the survey is to understand commuters’ expectations and needs, as well as to identify areas for improvement.