A new study shows that only 33 per cent of respondents have confidence that MRT reliability will improve in the next few years. 32 per cent of respondents were skeptical, while the remaining 35 per cent said that they did not know what to expect.
The survey of 711 commuters, conducted by Moovit and commissioned by the Straits Times, was conducted between 30 Nov and 4 Dec. Poll results reiterated that public confidence has become dented following a spate of rail service disruptions inconveniencing countless commuters in recent months.
The most high-profile of these persistent service breakdowns could be the unprecedented MRT tunnel flooding incident in October and the MRT collision at Joo Koon station where 38 people were injured, just a month later.
Commuters now find that they are giving themselves a wider buffer time when planning their MRT commutes to accommodate unexpected service disruptions and delays.
The survey also showed that commuters generally avoid taking the train when they have important appointments. 40 per cent of survey participants revealed that they would not take the trains when travelling to a job interview, while close to 54 per cent said they would not take the trains if they had to be punctual at an important event.
The poll further revealed that 30 per cent included a maximum of 10 minutes additional travel time to accommodate unexpected service disruptions, while about 20 per cent gave themselves a maximum of 20 minutes extra travel time. 14 per cent of respondents allotted more than 30 minutes additional travel time to allow for service delays or breakdowns.
The results on train reliability today stand in stark contrast to commuters’ perceptions on train reliability just three years ago. The poll showed that a majority of respondents, 57 per cent, did not plan to include any additional travel time at all when using the public train system three years ago.
https://theindependent.sg.sg/study-shows-65-of-respondents-have-lost-confidence-in-mrt-system/