Obbana Rajah

On Monday, an advisory panel submitted 22 recommendations to Senior Minister of State for Transport Dr Lam Pin Min on how to make Singapore’s transport system more family friendly and inclusive.

The Family-Friendly Transport Advisory Panel consists of members from key stakeholder groups, such as parents and experts on seniors and disability issues, and was established in June 2017.

Some of their proposed changes include ways to increase the ease of access for families and the elderly. They extend to installing user-friendly stroller restraint systems on public buses and introducing features that will make public buses more accessible for senior citizens.

They are also looking for more family-friendly spaces to be created and have proposed that there should be more space for wheelchair users and open strollers, and possibly a quiet room at MRT stations, bus Interchanges and Integrated Transport Hubs for commuters with special needs.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), “the Panel reached out to over 3,000 users of the transport system and conducted an extensive public consultation exercise through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, REACH listening points and an online survey”.

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They added that, “A variety of social groups were consulted, including families with young children, families who drive secondary school children to school, families with members who are wheelchair users, families who cycle and use personal mobility devices, families with special needs members and seniors who travel independently”.

In his Facebook post, Dr Lam wrote, “The Advisory Panel has completed its work and I was delighted to receive the report on their recommendations to make our transport network even more inclusive. Singapore has invested much into the hardware of our public transport infrastructure and renewal works over the last few years and the Advisory Panel’s recommendations on how to improve the heartware is very timely and appreciated. The report is a labour of love by the Panel, who consulted over 3,000 commuters over the past 10 months from various groups, such as families with young children, seniors, special needs and wheelchair users”.

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obbana@theindependent.sg