Commuters can now travel smarter with “Travel Smart Information”, a programme which the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will pilot from July this year.
Introducing Travel Smart Information
2 To help commuters have more comfortable rides, location-specific information such as the more crowded travelling times and train cars will be put up at 20 of the busiest train stations, such as Yishun and Ang Mo Kio. This will allow commuters to make more informed choices to improve their commuting experience.
Updates on Travel Smart Rewards
3 LTA launched the new Travel Smart Rewards (TSR) in May last year. The new TSR portal features a personalised travel planner, which analyses users’ overall travel patterns and recommends a customised Travel Plan that could allow them to earn more rewards. TSR users who shift or maintain an off-peak travel pattern can earn cash rewards. Since the launch of the new TSR, around 112,000 users have signed up, and changed their travel patterns to earn the rewards.
4 To recognise companies that are successful in encouraging their employees to participate in the new TSR, LTA holds an annual #wetravelsmart Corporate Challenge. The Challenge has two categories (companies with more than 500 employees and companies with 500 or less employees) and rewards companies that manage to garner the largest increase in their total number of employees on the TSR over the previous year.
5 The 2018 winners of the challenge for the two categories are:
a. Arup Singapore Pte Ltd (among companies with 500 or less employees); and
b. DBS Bank Ltd (among companies with more than 500 employees).
Updates on Travel Smart Network
6 The Travel Smart Network has also been steadily growing. There are currently 220 organisations and over 360,000 employees in the Travel Smart Network. Employees from organisations that are part of the Travel Smart Network can earn more points under the TSR, which they can exchange for cash rewards. They are also encouraged to adopt flexi-hours and use alternative modes of transport such a cycling, through various initiatives spearheaded by their company with LTA’s support.
7 Some companies have also tapped on the Travel Smart Grant, which supports initiatives to create a workplace environment that encourages travel off-peak. Since the grant was introduced in 2012, LTA has worked with 18 companies. Some examples are:
(i) Edmund Tie & Company
Edmund Tie & Company tapped on the Travel Smart Grant in 2017 to install a door access system. This allowed Edmund Tie to implement a staggered work hour scheme, giving their employees greater flexibility to re-time their arrival at work to before 8am. 15.3% of their employees now arrive at work before 8am, compared to 10% before they took up the grant.
(i) Robert Bosch
Robert Bosch (SEA) built bicycle stands and lockers to encourage their employees to re-mode. 11% of staff who took public transport to work re-moded after the facilities were made available.
(ii) NAFA
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts renovated their activity rooms and organised breakfast club sessions. The renovated activity rooms were also used to organise morning yoga classes to encourage their staff to re-time their morning commute to the office.
