LTA to develop threshold for new bus routes

[SINGAPORE] The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will develop a framework to establish the criteria that new bus routes will need to meet before they are operated.

In Parliament yesterday, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said that the LTA will work on developing a threshold for new bus routes. "Or if you're prepared to test the new route for a certain number of months and it does not cross the threshold, then I think we will have to sometimes make the painful decision to cut that route and eliminate it," he went on to add.

While the government receives many requests to run bus routes that have low ridership, operating too many routes with thin ridership throughout the system will result in either commuters having to pay higher fares or the government - and by extension, taxpayers - having to dole out more subsidies to public bus operators, he pointed out.