People at the Heart of a Safer, Caring and More Inclusive Public Transport System
Recognising the workforce and public-spiritedness through Public Transport Workers’ Appreciation Day and Caring Commuter Week 2022
The Caring SG Commuters Committee, the Land Transport Authority, and the Public Transport Council, in partnership with National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU), public transport operators held two concurrent events which were dedicated to our transport workers and commuters respectively today.
2 The annual Public Transport Workers Appreciation Day (PTWA), recognises and shows appreciation to our approximately 23,000 public transport workers in making our daily commutes safe, smooth and reliable.
3 Caring Commuter Week 2022, which is in its second year, promotes a gracious and caring commuting culture among commuters, and recognises caring commuters who have gone out of their way to show care to other commuters. Today’s event also kicked off this year’s Caring Commuter Week with a Caring Carnival. Both events were held at the Toa Payoh HDB Hub Atrium.
4 Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, was the Guest-of-Honour at the event and presented the Caring Commuter Awards as well as tokens of appreciation to our public transport workers. Mr Baey Yam Keng, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Transport, was also in attendance.
Showing Appreciation to our unsung heroes
5 LTA, NTWU and the public transport operators commemorated PTWA this year with the theme “Safe Journeys with our PT Workers”. Through activity booths and exhibition panels, the event showcased the different public transport vocations of both frontline and backend workers who play an important part in ensuring a safe travel experience for commuters.
6 Students from St Margaret’s Primary School joined in the celebrations by preparing 200 hand-written messages of appreciation on postcards which were distributed to the public transport workers at the event.
7 Public transport workers were also given tokens of appreciation and served meals and beverages at NTWU canteens as a gesture of appreciation for their dedication and hard work. For the months of November and December, they will also enjoy promotions or gifts from partnering merchants such as Guardian, Sheng Siong, Wild Wild Wet, White Restaurant, Royal Palm, Beef Bro SG, Shopee, Gardenia and Allswell.
8 In partnership with Singapore Kindness Movement, LTA also organised a slogan contest for primary and secondary school students this year for PTWA. The initiative garnered around 1,700 entries and shortlisted ones were posted on the Singapore Kindness Movement website from 26 September to 12 October for online voting. The nine winners of the contest were also presented with prizes at the event today.
Caring Commuter Week 2022
9 This week marks the second Caring Commuter Week (5 – 12 November) organised by the Caring SG Commuters Committee following the inaugural event last year. A key highlight was the Caring Commuter Awards presented to eight individuals for their caring acts. Besides recognising commuters who showed care to others in need, the awards also acknowledged service staff in the transport industry who played a part in the winners’ stories of care.
10 The newly renamed “Richard Magnus Award for the Outstanding Caring Commuter” 2022 was awarded to Mr Chan Yarn Kit and Mr Randy Lim. Mr Chan and Mr Lim were on their way to work when they noticed a man had collapsed at Tan Kah Kee MRT Station. Mr Lim promptly checked his vital signs and realised he was not breathing. Mr Chan then stepped forward to perform CPR and resuscitated the man before the paramedics arrived and took over. For more details on the other Award winners, please refer to PTC’s factsheet on the Caring Commuter Award.
11 The Caring Commuter Week 2022 also includes a host of other activities and events designed to involve more members of the public. Besides the Caring Carnival and Caring Commuter Award, the Caring Run · Walk · Cycle movement encourages participants to join the Caring movement and win prizes by drawing a heart-shaped route on a fitness tracking app. Public transport operators and their partners will also be organising exhibitions at various public transport nodes to raise awareness about commuters with different needs and how others can help. For more details on the activities under Caring Commuter Week 2022, please refer to Annex B.
12 During the week, Go-Ahead Singapore will launch a new initiative, CARE Bus, in partnership with the Caring SG Commuters Committee and Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS). The CARE Bus aims to educate commuters on the needs and challenges faced by persons with physical disabilities (e.g. cerebral palsy) during their public transport commute. CARE Bus will be specially decked out with artwork drawn by students from the CPAS School and ply the bus service 358 route which passes Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS) School. Students from Tampines Meridian Junior College have also pledged to look out for CPASS commuters during their commute. The first-year junior college students (about 700 students) have been encouraged to complete the Caring Commuter Champions online course.
13 The Caring SG Commuters Committee will be also implementing a new Heart Zone at Outram Park in conjunction with the TEL3 opening on 11 November 2022 to better serve the needs of commuters who are heading to Singapore General Hospital (SGH). It will be combined with the existing Heart Zone at Outram Park East West Line, and will complement the existing Heart Zone at the North East Line. A Heart Zone is a connecting point at a public transport node for commuters to help other commuters. The Heart Zone artwork which depicts the four caring behaviours of ‘Give Time’, ‘Give a Hand’, ‘Give Care’ and ‘Give Thanks’, was drawn by students from Punggol View Primary School. Students from Outram Secondary School have also pledged that during their commute, they will look out to help visitors and patients with appointments en route to SGH Campus. Under the Land Transport Master Plan 2040, Heart Zones will be implemented at all MRT stations, bus interchanges and integrated transport hubs, where practical. To date, 12 Heart Zones have been implemented at 11 different locations. To find out more about the Caring SG Commuters initiatives and how to take part, please visit the Caring SG Commuters Portal.