Singapore to combat traffic congestion with on-demand public bus service

The six-month trial has been launched with all Asia’s eyes on
the country

Singapore launches an on-demand public bus service that uses
technology that hopefully will reduce traffic congestion and costs
with a model that can be implemented throughout many Asian
gridlocked cities, reported by Reuters.

In a statement released by the Singapore Land Transport
Authority (LTA), commuters can request pickups and drop-offs at any
bus stop within a designated area all through a mobile app with the
bus system the country tries.

The technology it uses is claimed to optimize limited resources
while offering convenient bus journeys for commuters in areas or
during timings with low or unpredictable ridership.

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The test drives wide attention because it comes at a pressing
time due to the same traffic congestion problems many big cities
are experiencing.

It has gotten to the point where it affects the commuters’
lives as it drains resources and productivity, and worsens
pollution.

The ride-hailing trend with the likes of Uber, Grab, Lyft, and
other big names dominating the market and setting up new lifestyles
turns out to contribute to the congestion problem, even after
strict regulations by each country’s authorities.

This test has been run in parts of New York and Chicago before
launching in Singapore. However, some came back with a negative
result as it got costly for the city, like in Helsinki,
Finland.

According to Walter Theseira, a transport specialist at the
Singapore University of Social Sciences. the higher density of 5.6
million people living in Singapore alone makes Singapore a
potentially good, economically feasible ground for the technology
to work.