【正文】 port Authority(LTA), a statutory board under theMinistry of Transport, spearheads allland transport developments in Singapore. It is responsible for the planning,development and management of theland transport system. In attempting toachieve a “world class land transportsystem”, it broadly aims to “provide aquality, integrated and efficient landtransport system which meets the needsand expectations of Singaporeans, supports economic and environmentalgoals, and provides value for money”(LTA, 1998). In working towards thesegoals, the LTA works closely withother government agencies to ensurethat the transport systems are wellplanned and properly integrated withurban developments.Singapore has been actively improving its integrated transportation policy.All developments, be it a major newtown or a shopping centre, haveelements of transport and land use integration as early as at its planning stage.However, the issues of motor vehicleusage, ownership and public transporthave always been at the centre stage ofevery resident’s concerns. Singapore’ssmall size negates the thought ofindefinite expansion of the road work and uncontrolled usage of themotor vehicle, thus justifying far moreutilisation of public transport. Hence,while developing a system to controlthe use and ownership of motorvehicles, the government has alsoalways been attempting to improve thepublic transport systems to make thema more attractive alternative to the private car. The government aims to provide residents with a “wide spectrum”of integrated transport choices and atransport system that offers “high quality services, is convenient, accessible,fortable, safe, speedy and affordable to the majority of Singaporeans”(LTA, 1996). According to the Ministry of Transport, the Singapore government takes “transport planning seriously and takes preventive steps as faras possible before the problems beeunmanageable”. The result of the transport policy is not perfect, “but relativeto other cities, we have more successfully achieved effective and efficientmobility for our people” (Khaw, 2020).As a result of forces manifested asglobalization, people now have different time–distance perceptions, and newpatterns of recreation and leisure haveemerged. The implication for LTA isthat it now has to contend with a highlysophisticated population with greaterdemands than before. As proposed inConcept Plan 2020, LTA will bedeveloping the Road and Rapid Transitsystem Master Plans to cater to thetransport needs of the increased population of 2045. Its objective is todevelop an integrated land and transport infrastructure, where people canmute seamlessly from one place toanother. Therefore, this paper attemptsto discuss the relentless effort of theSingapore Government in improvingand integrating its public transport system, as well as its regulation of the useof the car.Public transportThe main public transport services inSingapore include the bus, Mass RapidTransit (MRT), Light Rail Transit(LRT) and taxi. Over the years, continuous efforts have been made toimprove their quality and keep themaffordable, to make them an attractivealternative to the private car. Theimprovements that have been made notonly cover the transport modes themselves, they also involved improvements to all intermediate and endpointfacilities, such as linkways, serviceinformation, customer service, etc.(LTA, 1996). Table 1 shows the dailypassenger trips travelled on thesemodes. Currently, about 60% of thetotal trips made in Singapore are onpublic transport (Khaw, 2020). However, the Singapore government aims tohave 75% of the trips being made onpublic transport.Viewpoint: Muhammad Faishal IbrahimFigure 1 Map of Singapore. Source: adapted from URA (2020)Table 1 Daily passenger tripsPublic transport Trips per dayMRT 1,073,947LRT Not availableBuses 3,128,127Taxis 588,632Total 4,790,706Source: Ministry of Transport (2020).BusCurrently, there are two main bus operators in Singapore, namely, the SBSTransit Ltd (previously Singapore BusServices) and TransIsland Bus Services Ltd (TIBS). This is a stark contrast of the ten Chinese bus paniesthat ran the Singapore streets in the1960s and early 1970s. Then, the busservice was “very unsatisfactory” (Tan,1976a) as it was mon to have disruption of services due to mechanicalbreakdown, irregular fare and routestructure, less frequent and overcrowded bus services, due to the smallnumber of buses available. SingaporeBus Services was renamed SBS Transiton 1 November 2020. The new namereflects the multimodal status, a move207from being just a bus operator to theprovision of both bus and train services. From 2020, SBS Transit operatesthe North East MRT line and SengkangLRT, followed by Punggol LRT in2020. SBS Transit was formed in 1973through the merger of three private buspanies and listed on the StockExchange of Singapore (SES) in 1978as Singapore Bus Service Limited.TransIsland Bus Services Limited wasincorporated on 31 May 1982 as thesecond major public bus operator. Thiswas to provide some measure of petition to SBS and ultimately, improvethe level of service provided by busoperators. TIBS started operations on 3April 1983. In August 1994, thegovernment announced the transfer of17 SBS services to TransIsland Bus.TIBS areas of responsibilities wereexpanded to include Bukit PanjangNew Town and the uping towns ofSembawang, Simpang, Seng Kangand Punggol.Over the years, many initiatives havebeen introduced to make travelling viathe bus more attractive. These are asfollows.Bus lanes, “B” signal, “Give Way”signs One of the earliest measures isthe use of reserved bus lanes, introduced in 1974