TEAM BELD: Proposal for Improvement of Train Breakdown Travel
Contingency Plans
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Land)
Singapore Institute of Technology
10 Dover Drive
Singapore 138683
20 October 2015
CHEW Men Leong
Chief Executive
Land Transport Authority
1 Hampshire Road
Singapore 219428
Dear Mr Chew,
Re: Proposal for
Improvement of Train breakdown Contingency plans
Enclosed for your
kind consideration is the following proposal for the improvement of train
breakdown contingency plans in Singapore. This report has been prepared with
the intention of establishing a system to address the affected commuters’ needs
during a train breakdown.
The report consists
of the rationale behind the proposed solutions, along with a detailed summary
of all related primary and secondary research. As public commuters ourselves,
we have provided information on the flaws of the current contingency plans and
an analysis on how the relevant agencies might improve on them.
We would like to
express our gratitude to you for taking the time to read through our proposal.
Your consideration to our suggestions in making public commute a more pleasant
journey is greatly appreciated.
Yours Sincerely,
Darrell Lin (Team
Representative)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal Statement
Benjamin Heng
As someone who relies on using public transport on a regular basis, be
it going to school or going out, I have not experienced any major breakdowns
before, only minor ones. I can understand how commuters feel when they
experience a major breakdown which could lead to many frustrations. Train
breakdowns are frequent, and as we all know MRT has been in service for nearly
20 years. For this project, I hope to give better suggestions to improve the
situation when such event happens again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Summary
According to
LTA, more than 2.5 million people use the MRT daily in Singapore to get to
their destinations. Over the past few years, train breakdowns have increased
significantly. Our group has come to an agreement that from the commuters’
perspective, train breakdowns are highly probable due to the increasing
population growth in Singapore which leads to a higher usage of the public
transport. Our group is keen in looking into the current contingency travel
plans that the various agencies have implemented, to improve on them so as to
give commuters a better commuting experience. The current contingency travel
plans have room for improvement. Our team conducted a survey, targeted at
commuters of different age groups, to find out if they are satisfied with the
current contingency travel plans. The survey results has shown that commuters
are displeased with the contingency travel plans in place. It has also shown
that commuters are unaware of the current contingency travel plans. The thrust
of this proposal is to suggest the implementation of new bus routes that follow
the train routes and also implementing bicycles rentals at MRT stations. These
solutions aim to aid in crowd control, provide alternative transport means, and
get commuters to their destinations in the event of a train breakdown.