More bus stops to get wider seats, armrests

Commuters will soon get to enjoy wider seats - some even with armrests - at more bus shelters. The seats will be installed at more than 2,000 bus stops built by private vendors in a project expected to cost about $2.14 million, according to the Ministry of Transport's 2019 expenditure estimates.

Such seats have already been installed at some of the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) own bus shelters. The LTA has about 3,000 bus stops islandwide. An LTA spokesman told The Straits Times on Monday that the wider seats offer more stable seating, while the armrests enable commuters, especially the elderly, to sit and get up more easily.

The new seats will replace the bum rests and narrow seats that have been in place for more than 15 years in bus shelters built under the design-build-operate model. These shelters - of which there are 2,097 - were set up by private vendors in exchange for a licence to display advertisements. The LTA spokesman said the new seats will be installed at stops during upgrading works and all new bus shelters will have at least one seat with armrests.

Retiree Lee Yang Lee, 65, who lives in Bukit Batok West, near Jurong, said the bus stop benches in her area are of the older models, so she is looking forward to the new ones. "Some of the current benches are too high, so it is not very comfortable as you can only sit down halfway," she noted. While she does not have trouble getting up from the existing seats, the armrests would likely help other senior citizens, she added.

The cost of bus stop benches came under public scrutiny last year after reports that a man unbolted one and took it home. Mr. Tan Ke Wei, 22, was sentenced to a seven-day detention order last October after pleading guilty to removing a grey metal bench worth $1,500 from a bus stop in Braddell Road in 2017. The LTA later said that bus stop benches cost between $500 and $1,500, excluding installation costs. LTA's benches are expected to last at least 20 years with minimal maintenance.