Singapore, 24 April 2024 – Tower Transit Singapore (TTS), in partnership with the Public Transport Council, under the Caring SG Commuters Movement, has unveiled two buses sporting artworks by students from special education (SPED) schools - Towner Gardens School (under MINDS) and Rainbow Centre Admiral Hill School. The artworks on the buses depict people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in public transport settings and feature tips on how other commuters can help by adopting the four caring norms – Give Time, Give Care, Give a Hand, and Give Thanks. 

This CARE (Caring Commuters Assist Readily with Empathy) Bus initiative is aimed at raising the awareness of the needs and challenges faced by persons with disabilities (e.g., intellectual disabilities and autism) during their public transport commute, particularly on bus routes that serve SPED schools. Caring commuters can then render assistance to vulnerable commuters in a more appropriate and safe manner. Persons with disabilities will also be able to commute more confidently knowing that there would be caring commuters around to assist. The two CARE Buses will be operated by TTS and deployed on service 173, which serves MINDS Hub @ YMCA-MINDS Bukit Batok, and service 859, which serves Rainbow Centre Admiral Hill School. 

The artworks by Rainbow Centre Admiral Hill School include a drawing of a commuter staring at a person with autism, accompanied by the words “Give Care by not staring at me and giving me personal space”. One of the artworks by Towner Gardens School depicts a commuter with an intellectual disability making loud noises on the bus. Above the drawing are the words “Give Time for me to calm down”. 

“Bus captains and other commuters can have a very big impact on whether people with disabilities feel welcomed on our buses. With the CARE Bus initiative, our hope is that both bus captains and commuters will be better informed and be able to empathise, show care and share the commute with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” said Winston Toh, Managing Director of TTS. 

"We are delighted to partner Tower Transit Singapore, Towner Gardens School, Rainbow Centre Admiral Hill, and Sembawang Secondary School for this CARE Bus. CARE Bus is an example of how the community can come together apply heartware on hardware to create awareness of commuters with different needs. I hope that the CARE Bus will inspire more commuters to join us in the movement to show care to others during their commute," said Leow Yew Chin, Chief Executive of Public Transport Council.

Bus captains of service 173 and service 859 visited MINDS Hub @ YMCA-MINDS Bukit Batok and Rainbow Centre Admiral Hill School, respectively, to gain more understanding of intellectual and developmental disabilities and better serve the students who take these services.

“One of the things I learnt is what to do if a commuter with autism has a meltdown on the bus. As the bus captain, I can manage the situation by explaining to the other commuters that this commuter has autism and they mean no harm. I would also ask them to give the commuter some space and time to calm down,” said bus captain Mohammed Syazwan Bin Mohammed Salim, 27, who operates service 859.

As part of the CARE Bus initiative, students from Sembawang Secondary School were invited to participate in the Public Bus Inclusivity Course conducted by TTS. They were taught simple skills to help commuters with disabilities, including intellectual and developmental disabilities.