Better public facilities for the elderly on the go

Singapore will soon have a comprehensive plan for making public transport facilities more senior-friendly, reported The Straits Times. This includes possibly having more seats at bus stops and train stations or their sheltered walkways nearby, having more anti-slip flooring, and more toilets in bus interchanges and MRT stations.

More details are likely to be announced in the Committee of Supply debate next year, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao on Saturday.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been having focus group discussions with the elderly, to better understand the common challenges they face when using public transport, and the improvements they hope to see.

Authorities have been improving the accessibility of transport facilities. For instance, more overhead bridges are being retrofitted with lifts. In May this year, the LTA also announced plans to add more than 200km of sheltered walkways, which amounted to 46km then, to the public transport network by 2018. This means commuters will have sheltered walkways within a 400-metre radius of their nearest MRT station.