( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, as from the 1st of June, 1978, the Singapore Bus Service (1978) Ltd, introduced a bus interchange scheme in Jurong Town. In the initial stages of its implementation, it caused great confusion and inconvenience to the commuters in Jurong Town resulting in a lot of complaints from all concerned. As a Member of Parliament for that area, I have to raise this matter in this House, or I would be failing in my duty. Sir, according to newspaper reports before the implementation of this interchange scheme, the SBS had engaged experts to study and to make a research into statistics over a period of years before coming up with the so-called bus rationalisation scheme. I am not knowledgeable in this matter and, therefore, I cannot claim whether or not this is a reasonable scheme. But I can say that in this matter of a major readjustment and changes in a public communication system, I as the MP for that area, and even the Citizens' Consultative Committee and the people of Jurong were not informed of the proposed scheme in advance. As a representative of the people I do not seem to have a say in a proposal that affects the livelihood of my constituents. How contemptuous of public opinion and how arbitrary the SBS has been. Sir, in the first few days of the implementation of this new rationalisation scheme, the press reported on the confusion at the bus interchange together with the many complaints made by the residents. I myself visited the place on different occasions. I observed that during non-peak hours, the interchange appeared to be able to cope with the situation. Of course, there is still room for improvement. But no one is able to realise how bad the confusion and the crowd is during peak hours at the interchange unless he is there to experience it himself. Under the circumstances in the rush for a bus, the old, the weak, the women and children, and those who were courteous found it very difficult to squeeze their way into the bus. If the SBS wanted the passengers to queue up, they had not put up any railings to guide them. One could only see SBS staff clad in white yelling at the crowd through loud hailers and gesticulating or driving the commuters away like cattle. At times when commuters squeezed into the wrong queue through ignorance, they were discourteously pulled away and even scolded by the staff. Commuters are mainly citizens in the lower income groups. Their only means of communication is the bus. So they had to stomach this scolding and rough handling by the staff, much to their discomfiture. Along certain isolated routes leading to some factories, commuters had to wait for a very long time because SBS officials would send a bus to such routes only when there were enough commuters waiting. The original schedules had not been adhered to. I am just quoting these instances to show how the scheme has brought about inconvenience to the commuters right from the very start. Sir, I have already described the situation inside the interchange. The situation outside the interchange was no better because the exit and entry points are situated close to each other. Both points are sited on one same road and they are also very close to Corporation Circus, thus restricting the smooth flow of vehicular traffic. During peak hours, the congestion along Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim was even worse. Some of the staff of the bus company therefore acted as "traffic police", regulating the traffic at random, without actually knowing what they were doing. I wonder why the experts when planning the scheme had not thought of these defects that would arise. Perhaps their calculations had been wrong. Sir, even up to today, I am receiving complaints from the residents. They complain that to reach the factory or to go downtown, they have to spend double the amount of time waiting for buses and also the inconvenience of changing buses, not to talk about spending more money on bus fares. Factory operators have also complained that since the implementation of the scheme on 1st June, many of their workers could not arrive for work on time, thus affecting their production schedule in the long run. I have also heard that some companies are considering buying their own buses to transport their workers in order to solve this problem for good. Furthermore, executives and other road-users have also complained that during peak hours traffic congestion is even worse, thus much of their valuable time is wasted. Shopkeepers and hawkers in Jurong Town have also complained that because of the inconvenience of transport in Jurong Town, there are fewer and fewer customers. So their business has declined very badly. All in all, the introduction of the new bus interchange has brought about complaints by the people from all quarters. Sir, the rationalisation of Jurong Town bus services was originally intended to improve the transport system in Jurong Town, thereby enabling the residents to reach their destinations faster. However, we have seen only the weaknesses of the scheme so far, even before we can think of any benefits to the commuters. During peak hours, if the residents should take a feeder bus to the interchange, they have to board a bus heading for Boon Lay Gardens, which takes a big loop back to Jurong Town before reaching the interchange. Commuters who fail to board a bus after a long wait simply walk to the interchange. Previously, one needed to take only one bus to town or the factory. Now one has to spend more bus fares and more time and even to walk a distance to reach one's destination. May I ask the Minister whether this so-called rationalisation of the Jurong Town bus services has brought any improved service to the people, or has it caused more inconvenience to them? Sir, the bus is a means of transport for the lower income groups. It affects their livelihood to a great extent. The Government has sent a team of senior officials to the bus company. They should perform their supervisory task earnestly and not to try to relate their performance merely to the criterion of whether or not the company is making money. What is more important is that bus services should be improved in accordance with the wishes of the people. As the SBS has declared, it would provide an enhanced level of service at the lowest possible cost. I am not an expert but a layman on bus and transportation. However, I would like to reflect the views of my constituents and to make certain observations which are based on what I have actually seen on various occasions. First, yesterday, from what I have read in an English newspaper, in order to relieve the pressure at the interchange, the SBS intends to introduce a new Service 249A during the peak hours to link up the residential areas in Jurong with the industrial areas. This shows that the bus interchange scheme may not be suitable to residents of Jurong Town and Boon Lay housing estate. However, the residents in Jurong area welcome this new bus service, and they believe that such link service should be increased to service the residents between their homes and the huge industrial areas. With this direct bus communication, transport will be more convenient and faster. Secondly, before the full implementation of this scheme, the frequency of Services 240, 242, 244, 246 should be increased during peak hours and the buses should observe fixed schedules in order to shorten the waiting time of commuters. Thirdly, the extraneous Service 209 has been a heavily used service. It should not have been abolished. The frequency of Services 197 and 198 should be increased so as to provide residents travelling out of or into Jurong Town with adequate bus services. Fourthly, the traffic conditions at Corporation Circus should immediately be improved so as to alleviate the serious congestion there. Fifthly, at exchange sections in the interchange railings should be erected to enable commuters to queue up for their buses. SBS employees should politely render assistance and guidance to those commuters who do not know what buses to take. Sixthly, at route-terminals in the interchange buses should punctually leave according to schedule so that commuters at some routes need not have to wait for an unduly long time. Seventhly, bus services such as Nos. 183 and 197 which come from areas outside Jurong Town should stop at the interchange to allow commuters wishing to change buses to alight and then proceed to Jurong Town and Boon Lay housing estates and finally going back to the interchange. This will minimise the inconvenience to commuters in Jurong Town and Boon Lay Gardens of having to change buses. Mr Speaker, Sir, since there is such confusion at the present time when the schools are closed for the holidays, you can imagine the confusion and chaos at the interchange if conditions are not improved by the 26th June when the schools reopen - students and workers will be scrambling for buses. Sir, I hope the Minister will see to it that senior Government officials posted to the SBS make a real effort to improve the rationalisation scheme before the next semester begins, so that it will meet the demand of the broad masses. Sir, whether such a major scheme will be successful or not, I reserve my views for the time being. However, this bus interchange scheme that has been implemented for the last two weeks most surely needs urgent and positive improvement. 3.45 p.m.