Some 100 public bus captains will be part of a training programme to become safety operators in the next few years. This is to prepare for the planned pilot deployment of autonomous buses in Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District in the early 2020s.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) made the announcement on 24 October 2019.
According to LTA, the number of bus captains trained to become safety operators will progressively increase as autonomous technology develops further and is introduced on a larger scale.
Safety operators will be trained to take over immediate control of the autonomous bus should the need arise. They will also be trained to remotely monitor the operation of the autonomous bus, to ensure public safety.
LTA said that it will work closely with the industry to develop the training programmes.
LTA and eight industry stakeholders, including the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU), signed an agreement to enable bus captains to take on new roles when autonomous buses are eventually introduced in Singapore.
Other signatories were ST Engineering, SBS Transit, SMRT Buses, Tower Transit Singapore, Go-Ahead Singapore, Workforce Singapore, and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute).
“Technological disruption is not new. New technologies have emerged and changed our lives, such as the invention of smart phones and mobile applications. Transportation has also evolved over the millennia, from the inventions of wheels, to horse-drawn carriages, to automobiles and, in the coming years, autonomous vehicles that will gradually be deployed in our daily lives. Each change had generally improved our quality of life, and brought about many new opportunities,” said LTA Chief Executive Ngien Hoon Ping.
NTWU Executive Melvin Yong describes the signing as reflective of Singapore’s unique brand of Tripartism.
“This collaborative approach between the Government, public transport operators and union means that we are able to help our bus workers prepare for a smooth transition to an autonomous future, and have a voice on the table when discussing the pace of the transition,” he said.
The Land Transport Masterplan 2040 was unveiled by LTA earlier in March this year, where it described the future of land transport for Singapore.
One of these visions was to have all journeys to the nearest neighbourhood centre using Walk-Cycle-Ride modes of transport to be no longer than 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the masterplan aims for Walk-Cycle-Ride journeys to the city to be less than 45 minutes.
“Leveraging technologies such as autonomous and dynamically-routed vehicles is key to realising the vision of a 20-minute town and 45-minute city as encapsulated in LTA’s Land Transport Masterplan 2040,” said LTA.
The industry will also be working to prepare other public bus employees such as technicians and operations personnel to take on different essential roles when autonomous buses are deployed in Singapore, said LTA.
