Latest news with #PeopleAssociation
CNA
13 hours ago
- Politics
- CNA
2 new bus services in Tengah and Brickland by year-end, 6 more in 2026: Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow
SINGAPORE: Eight new bus services will be introduced in Tengah and Brickland by the end of next year to help ease residents' connectivity woes, said Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow on Sunday (Jun 8). Complaints on the lack of amenities and transport options have arisen among early residents of Tengah, a new HDB town located in the west of Singapore. The first two bus services will be rolled out by the end of this year. Service 872, which will start from Tengah Bus Interchange and serve areas like Tengah Boulevard, Plantation Crescent, Bukit Batok, Jurong Town Hall and Chinese Garden MRT, is slated to start on Aug 10. The other service will start from Brickland and pass through Bukit Panjang and Jurong East MRT stations. More details will be announced at the start of the fourth quarter. By the end of next year, there will be two express services, one a city direct service from Brickland, and the other is a privately operated bus route from Brickland to the One-North area. There will also be four express feeder services by the end of 2026, which will take residents from their homes to nearby MRT stations, such as Beauty World, Bukit Gombak, Bukit Batok and Jurong East MRT stations. Mr Siow was at a People's Association family event at Tengah Community Club, where he was speaking to the media for the first time since assuming the transport minister role on May 23. He took over the position from Mr Chee Hong Tat, who is now the Minister for National Development. Mr Siow, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Brickland ward that is part of Tengah, touched on some issues faced by Tengah residents at Sunday's event. Mr Siow said in a speech to residents at the community club that there are four "C"s that the government hopes to address: not enough coffee shops, not enough childcare centres, not enough transport connectivity and concerns with the centralised cooling system in their HDB units. He said that the government is 'very focused' on tackling these issues, noting that a multi-agency committee has been set up to support those moving into new Build-to-Order (BTO) flats. He said that the chairman of the committee is Senior Minister of State Sun Xue Ling, who has appointments in both Ministry for National Development and the Ministry of Transport (MOT). 'So just be a little bit patient, because I know we are doing these things as residents are moving in, and it will become better, very, very soon,' he said. The Tengah Bus Interchange opened on Jul 21 last year. With it, a new service 871 was introduced to connect Tengah to Bukit Batok West, Bukit Gombak and Beauty World. Two existing bus services, 992 and 870, were also extended to better serve Tengah residents. WHY PRIVATE BUS SERVICE TO ONE-NORTH? On why a private bus service instead of a public one is being planned to take residents of Tengah to the One-North area, Mr Siow said that it is among the options that the government considers when looking to augment the bus framework. 'We try not to do it extensively and only really for niche routes, because when we run too many private routes, we run the risk of cannibalising demand for the public bus network,' he said. He said that there are certain routes with enough demand that a private operator is prepared to take up but public transport operators are 'not quite ready to do yet'. 'We can, in the short term, introduce some of these routes (and) if they work well, in the longer term, we can always consider incorporating them into the public bus network,' he said. As to why One-North, Mr Siow said that there is a demand from Brickland residents, as many of them work there. 'And so that's how we decided to trial and see,' he said. CUTTING DOWN PUBLIC TRANSPORT TRAVEL TIME There are also longer-term aims for the travel time to be narrowed between taking private and public transport, particularly for HDB estates 'a little bit further away from the city', said Mr Siow. He said that while trains can get people to the city quickly, getting to the train stations can be time-consuming for many of these residents. 'If we can try to do that a little bit better, improving the walkability of the town, improving the density of the bus network, we should be able to bring the journey times down and make public transport more competitive with private transport,' he said. He said that currently, the travel time from Tengah to the city is two to three times longer by public transport than it is for private transport, and he aims to cut it down to one to two times longer. 'And we will be doing that all across Singapore at the estates that are further away from the city, that is my priority,' he said. FIRST THOUGHTS ON NEW JOB Asked about how he is settling into his new role as acting transport minister, Mr Siow said that he is no stranger to the transport portfolio. 'I'm very excited, I've hit the ground running and we are working on how to get LTA's (the Land Transport Authority's) plans on track (and) continue to do the things we have been doing,' he said. Mr Siow held key appointments at the MOT, among others. 'Going back to the ministry has been very positive for me,' he said. 'I've been very happy to be able to reconnect with old colleagues, but also with the issues that I used to work on.' He said he had worked on the Jurong Region Line with the ministry, which is planned to operate through Tengah by 2028. 'When I was an officer at MOT 10 years back, it was a piece of paper, and now it's coming close to reality,' he said. 'These are the things that a lot of us at MOT and LTA are very inspired by, because we do things that matter to Singaporeans, and these are the tangible products of our work.'
CNA
15 hours ago
- Politics
- CNA
8 new bus services in Tengah by end-2026: Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow
SINGAPORE: Eight new bus services will be introduced in Tengah by the end of next year to help ease residents' connectivity woes, said Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow on Sunday (Jun 8). Complaints on the lack of amenities and transport options have arisen among early residents of Tengah, a new HDB town located in the west of Singapore. The first two bus services will be rolled out by the end of this year. Service 872, which will start from Tengah Bus Interchange and serve areas like Tengah Boulevard, Plantation Crescent, Bukit Batok, Jurong Town Hall and Chinese Garden MRT, is slated to start on Aug 10. The other service will start from Brickland and pass through Bukit Panjang and Jurong East MRT stations. More details will be announced at the start of the fourth quarter. By the end of next year, there will be two express feeder services, one a city direct service from Brickland, and the other is a privately operated bus route from Brickland to the One-North area. There will also be four express services by the end of 2026, which will take residents from their homes to nearby MRT stations, such as Beauty World, Bukit Gombak, Bukit Batok and Jurong East MRT stations. Mr Siow was at a People's Association family event at Tengah Community Club, where he was speaking to the media for the first time since assuming the transport minister role on May 23. He took over the position from Mr Chee Hong Tat, who is now the Minister for National Development. Mr Siow, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Brickland ward that is part of Tengah, touched on some issues faced by Tengah residents at Sunday's event. Mr Siow said in a speech to residents at the community club that there are four "C"s that the government hopes to address: not enough coffee shops, not enough childcare centres, not enough transport connectivity and concerns with the centralised cooling system in their HDB units. He said that the government is 'very focused' on tackling these issues, noting that a multi-agency committee has been set up to support those moving into new Build-to-Order (BTO) flats. He said that the chairman of the committee is Senior Minister of State Sun Xue Ling, who has appointments in both Ministry for National Development and the Ministry of Transport (MOT). 'So just be a little bit patient, because I know we are doing these things as residents are moving in, and it will become better, very, very soon,' he said. The Tengah Bus Interchange opened on Jul 21 last year. With it, a new service 871 was introduced to connect Tengah to Bukit Batok West, Bukit Gombak and Beauty World. Two existing bus services, 992 and 870, were also extended to better serve Tengah residents. WHY PRIVATE BUS SERVICE TO ONE-NORTH? On why a private bus service instead of a public one is being planned to take residents of Tengah to the One-North area, Mr Siow said that it is among the options that the government considers when looking to augment the bus framework. 'We try not to do it extensively and only really for niche routes, because when we run too many private routes, we run the risk of cannibalising demand for the public bus network,' he said. He said that there are certain routes with enough demand that a private operator is prepared to take up but public transport operators are 'not quite ready to do yet'. 'We can, in the short term, introduce some of these routes (and) if they work well, in the longer term, we can always consider incorporating them into the public bus network,' he said. As to why One-North, Mr Siow said that there is a demand from Brickland residents, as many of them work there. 'And so that's how we decided to trial and see,' he said. CUTTING DOWN PUBLIC TRANSPORT TRAVEL TIME There are also longer-term aims for the travel time to be narrowed between taking private and public transport, particularly for HDB estates 'a little bit further away from the city', said Mr Siow. He said that while trains can get people to the city quickly, getting to the train stations can be time-consuming for many of these residents. 'If we can try to do that a little bit better, improving the walkability of the town, improving the density of the bus network, we should be able to bring the journey times down and make public transport more competitive with private transport,' he said. He said that currently, the travel time from Tengah to the city is two to three times longer by public transport than it is for private transport, and he aims to cut it down to one to two times longer. 'And we will be doing that all across Singapore at the estates that are further away from the city, that is my priority,' he said. FIRST THOUGHTS ON NEW JOB Asked about how he is settling into his new role as acting transport minister, Mr Siow said that he is no stranger to the transport portfolio. 'I'm very excited, I've hit the ground running and we are working on how to get LTA's (the Land Transport Authority's) plans on track (and) continue to do the things we have been doing,' he said. Mr Siow held key appointments at the MOT, among others. 'Going back to the ministry has been very positive for me,' he said. 'I've been very happy to be able to reconnect with old colleagues, but also with the issues that I used to work on.' He said he had worked on the Jurong Region Line with the ministry, which is planned to operate through Tengah by 2028. 'When I was an officer at MOT 10 years back, it was a piece of paper, and now it's coming close to reality,' he said. 'These are the things that a lot of us at MOT and LTA are very inspired by, because we do things that matter to Singaporeans, and these are the tangible products of our work.'
CNA
13-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
New tranche of S$500 CDC vouchers launched by PM Lawrence Wong
SINGAPORE: Singaporean households can now claim and use S$500 (US$380) in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Tuesday (May 13) at Nee Soon South Community Club. The CDC vouchers, meant to help households manage cost-of-living challenges, will be divided equally as per previous tranches – S$250 for spending at participating heartland merchants and hawkers, and S$250 for spending at participating supermarkets. The participating supermarkets are Ang Mo Supermarket, Cold Storage, Giant Singapore, HAO Mart, NTUC FairPrice, Prime Supermarket, Sheng Siong and U Stars Supermarket. Similar to the previous rounds, one member of each Singaporean household can visit and log in with their Singpass to claim the digital vouchers. Once claimed, an SMS from will be sent to the registered mobile number, containing a unique voucher link that can be shared among household members. Notification letters will not be issued for this tranche of vouchers, but information on the claiming process will be available online, through newspaper advertisements and community posters. This tranche of vouchers will be valid until Dec 31, 2025. Members of the public are urged to exercise caution when claiming CDC vouchers and not to disclose bank log-in details, transfer money or install mobile applications from unofficial app stores, the People's Association (PA) and CDC said. Households will receive another S$300 in CDC vouchers in January 2026 for a total of S$800 in vouchers this financial year. NOT A "ONE-OFF EXERCISE": PM WONG As announced in the Budget 2025 statement in February, besides the CDC vouchers, all adult Singaporeans will receive SG60 vouchers in July. Each Singaporean adult will get S$600, while seniors aged 60 and above will receive an additional S$200. Mr Wong also announced in February that parents with children aged 12 and below will receive LifeSG credits, and those aged 13 to 20 will receive a top-up to their Edusave account or Post-Secondary Education Account. Households will also receive U-Save rebates. This means that a typical family of four with two young children will receive around S$5,000 in support this financial year, Mr Wong said on Tuesday. He added that this is not a "one-off exercise" and the government will provide help for as long as it is needed. "We will continue to review and update and strengthen our social support system across different areas – be it housing, healthcare, education or retirement," he said. "We have started this process recently through Forward Singapore, and we will continue in the coming years. "All these updates, changes, improvements to policies, will help to provide Singaporeans with greater assurance through every life stage." On whether it is sustainable to keep providing vouchers, Mr Wong said this is "a good question to ask" and the government has to ensure its spending is sustainable over the medium to longer term. "That's why, earlier in this decade, when we saw that there was a funding gap in public finances, that our finance expenditure was going to go up, but revenues were not sufficient to cover our expenditures, we decided to make tax changes and increase taxes," said the prime minister. "It was a difficult decision to make. It was certainly not popular, but it was the right thing to do, and it was a responsible thing to do. "Because we did that, today, we are in a healthy and sound fiscal position, and today we have the resources we need to protect Singaporeans, to shield you from cost of living increases." Also in attendance at the launch of the latest tranche of CDC vouchers were the five mayors - Ms Low Yen Ling, Ms Denise Phua, Mr Desmond Choo, Mr Alex Yam and Mr Fahmi Aliman. As of Monday, about 97.3 per cent of Singaporean households, including new households formed, have claimed the previous tranche of CDC vouchers issued in January, said PA and CDC. Of the claimed vouchers, more than S$324 million – or 83.4 per cent – have been spent. Overall, more than S$1.92 billion has been spent since the launch of the CDC vouchers scheme in December 2021. A total of S$1.06 billion was spent at hawkers and heartland merchants while more than S$857 million was spent at supermarkets.
New Paper
11-05-2025
- Sport
- New Paper
Kopitime: There should be live screening, watch parties for ACL Two
I hope the People Association will organise free live screening or watch parties at Community Centres for Singaporeans to watch and show support for Lion City Sailors in their AFC Champions League Two Cup Final Match on May 18. After all, this is the very first time that a local club has managed to go all the way to a Cup final in a regional competition. It is indeed a historic moment for Singapore and Singaporeans. And we Singaporeans want to witness this piece of history being made. It would be really nice to watch the match and cheer together for our Lion City Sailors with our family, friends and neighbours at the CC. And if our Lion City Sailors win the Cup, it will be the perfect SG60 gift. I am sure this will also help to generate passion and interest, and hopefully bring back the crowds to the stadiums for Singapore Premier League. I wish the Lion City Sailors all the very best in their AFC Champions League Two Cup Final.
