Last week, Steven wrote an interesting post about the psychology of travel decisions for public transit riders.
Unlike driving, riding a bus or train tends involve a host of a variables (i.e. ticket price, wait times, transfer times, and dwell times) which ultimately affects a passenger’s decision. One of these factors, price, is probably one of the largest determinants in the minds of a passenger.
Knowing this fact, Singapore’s MRT system this past summer implemented an innovative 1-year pilot program to combat congestion — Travel Early, Travel Free.
The program is very straightforward — passengers who “tap out”/exit before 7:45am from one of sixteen designated MRT stations will not be charged for their ride.
Officials hope that for those who are willing to alter their schedules, they will travel just slightly earlier to help spread out the peak, and thereby, reducing peak hour crowding.
To help riders understand how their decisions can affect congestion, the LTA posted some telling images of what a huge difference 15 minutes can make.
730am. Bishan Station.
745am. Bishan Station.
800am. Bishan Station.
830am. Bishan Station.
Their overall objective is to entice 10-15% of riders to take advantage of this program. And to sweeten the deal, they decided to offer early-bird commuters free coffee on the first three days.
Whether or not this trial is successful remains to be seen but the results of this should definitely interest those in the public transit field.
While I do think this program will yield positive outcomes, one odd thing that I immediately noticed was the absence of a “leave early, leave free” deal. I mean, if you’re trying to reduce congestion during the morning, shouldn’t a similar program exist during the afternoon?
5 Comments
having been to singapore, their work culture doesnt necessarily entitle them to “leave early”
I wonder if the evening rush might spread itself our naturally. In a culture where hard work is prized, perhaps everyone is not punching out at exactly 5 o’clock. If enough people are staying late then the evening rush might not be as severe as the morning. Also culture could be playing a different role, maybe to government is leery of encouraging people to work less?
@ busrider, Eric
Yeah that’s my assumption too. A quick search reveals that Singaporeans are basically the hardest working people in the world. Averaging way over 40 hours of work per week. So yeah, perhaps no peak afternoon rush, rather a more even spread from basically 5pm onwards.
I love this whole concept. It goes to show how minor changes in people’s behaviour can have a major impact on a system as a whole. It reminds me of University lecture halls that try and maximize the usage of the halls by scheduling lectures all the way from 8am in the morning all the way till 9pm at night.
The morning peak is much higher an sharper. Most people travel within two hours. In the evening the peak is distributed over a longer period of time. Some work longer, some go to shopping, dinner or cinema after work and pupils and students might leave before workers leave.
Leave early travel free would also mean a lot of free tickets to retired people, housewives, tourists which have to travel anyway but would wait for teh free time period. In the early morning shopping malls etc are still closed so it is not attractive for this group.