Mixed responses to LTA’s announcement of charging ports in some buses

The Land Transport Authority today announced in Facebook today that in its review to upgrade the design of public buses to enhance commuter experience, it will introduce charging ports in some buses from 1 Sep onwards. Commuters who sit at the inner seats (next to the window) will be able to charge their mobile phones using the in-bus ports.

The ports will be made available in 10 new double-decker buses operated by SMRT. The buses are deployed to these 5 bus services – Services 61, 67, 985, 963, and 969 (they may be redeployed to other services from time to time).

Each bus will have 41 USB charging points located near the inner seats which are free for commuters’ use. The ports are also available at the wheelchair bay on board the wheelchair accessible buses. LTA promised to roll out an additional 137 new buses with USB charging ports progressively from Oct 2016 onwards.

Some commuters welcomed the new feature to be introduced in some new buses.

Dickson Ng said: “Nice! can charge and play PokemonGO when on my long bus rides now.” And Marc Tang said: “This is a good feature to have as Smart phones nowadays consume a lot of Battery Power.”

Some others like Gregory-Nittaya Lau and Peter Bala wondered if there will be commotion over usage rights for this charging points between commuters.

Yet others like Gugu Tan considering the quickly evolving phone charging technology, wondered how long the charging point will remain relevant. He said: “Hope these USB port are quick charge type! or normal USB port? New phone are equipped with quick charge function.”

Norman Abdullah wondered if the review to upgrade the design of public buses to enhance commuter experience meant justification to raise fares for public transport by LTA.

Joseph D. Lim did not welcome the charging points saying that it will “create social problem (as if we don’t have enough of it)”. he also said that it poses a safety risks (such as exploding “illegal” battery or device”.

“How much can u charge in a bus,” he asked in asking LTA to stick to its cre business of providing comfortable and relaxing bus ride to commuters.