Commuters less happy with public transport

Whether it is trains or taxis, transport standards here have slipped in the eyes of commuters and travellers, who have rated them lower nearly across the board over last year, reported The Straits Times.

Mr. Jochen Wirtz, a marketing professor at the National University of Singapore whose research interests include customer satisfaction measurement, said, "People's expectations are changing - what was great 10 years ago has become the standard today. Others are catching up."

MRT trains and public buses have, for the past year or so, been hit with complaints of overcrowding and long waiting times during peak hours. The same goes for taxis, which customers say are scarce during peak hours and rainy weather.

The MRT system scored 59.7 points this year, down from 64.1 points. Public buses also dropped about two points to score 58.5, and taxi services dipped about four points to 63.2.

According to Mr. Wirtz, having one thing go wrong could colour the commuter's entire experience. "There is the halo effect. When important aspects of a service are bad, they colour the judgment of all the other aspects," he said.