A 2001 Paviors’ Travel award was given to four second-year students in the Department of Civil Engineering at Portsmouth University. Jonathan Bainger, Abigail Green, Victoria Squire and Gavin Turner made a comparison of the transport systems of Greater Manchester and Singapore.
They found that both cities have and are, extending a light rail system. Metrolink in Manchester and MRT/LRT in Singapore. The most obvious difference between the two transport systems is the bus services. Singapore’s bus service is amazingly efficient. Buses are on time, frequent, comfortable and cheap. Manchester will possess a world class integrated system when the bus service is improved as a feeder service to the Metrolink.
What makes Singapore’s transport system so attractive to use is the sheer simplicity of travelling. Customer friendly maps greet the traveller and with the purchase of a prepaid farecard which can be topped up, journeys are less stressful and efficient. Farecards are universal to the MRT and the bus network and the price of travel is cheap with a maximum flat rate charge of less than £1. Currently in Manchester, seperate tickets need to be bought for the Metrolink and the different bus operators. The introduction of a universal farecard and flat rate charges in the UK is understood to be difficult under current legislation.
The use of public transport in Singapore is also encouraged by controlling the use of private vehicles. There are heavy charges on the ownership and use of a car through taxation, licensing and area charging. The students recognised that in the UK there is a strong car culture and the present high costs of owning and running a car do not seem to deter the use of the car as a flexible and personal mode of transport. With the Metrolink system leading the way, Manchester is living up to the Government’s label as being the first “centre of excellence” for integrated transport.
(Based on Pavior’s Travel Award Report 2002 “Integrated Tranport - An Ideal Solution to a 21st Century problem?”)