Driving social inclusion through greater accessibility in public transport
SMRT is a leading public transport operator in Singapore with over 70% of the rail network operated by us. With close to 2.5 million rides on our trains and buses daily, our MRT stations and bus interchanges impact lives and livelihoods. We recognise the unique role we have in bringing communities together.
Our mission and purpose is Moving People, Enhancing Lifestyles. We don’t just move people physically from point to point; we move them in different aspects of their lives, such as the way they live, play and work.
With a rapidly ageing population and people with diverse needs and disabilities living among us, we have over the years made a concerted effort to understand their requirements to provide inclusive travel solutions and inclusive service delivery.
Delivering inclusive service to commuters with different needs
With our commuters at the heart of our operations, we strive to deliver exceptional service through our employees and leverage innovative solutions in operations, maintenance, and customer service to enhance the commuting experience. This is central to our purpose and drives our passion to best meet the needs of our commuters.
In 2017, we introduced the Inclusive Service Delivery Programme to equip SMRT Trains and Buses staff with practical skills and build their confidence to assist priority passengers.
GO- TO SMRT now available at our station and bus interchanges
Since then, we have continued to improve service excellence and in the past year, we have implemented several efforts that positively impact commuters:
In April 2021, SMRT Buses teamed up with Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) and SPD to enhance our inclusive service delivery training for frontline staff like bus captains and interchange managers. Through the training, our frontline staff learned how to interact with commuters with different physical and intellectual disabilities as well as those on the autism spectrum.
We also launched Go-To SMRT, an initiative to enhance our commuter services and facilities to better serve the Singapore community. Through Go-To SMRT, we want to encourage everyone to embrace SMRT-operated transport nodes as the first place they turn to for common needs such as wayfinding, first aid, locating missing children or the elderly, and other assistance that may help in their travels in the transport network.
Starting with 17 SMRT train stations and five bus interchanges, a suite of facilities and services were made available at SMRT stations and bus interchanges to transform them into go-to points for anyone in need of help, including people with special needs. Since end-2022, our Go-To SMRT initiative has been fully rolled out across all SMRT-operated MRT stations and bus interchanges.
We also optimised our train stations and bus interchanges to feature care spaces and first-aid rooms, as well as established Dementia Go-To Points that serve as ‘safe return’ points where members of the public can bring persons living with dementia who may appear lost for help. These points also serve as resource centres within the community to provide information and useful resources on dementia and link those who need help with relevant dementia-related services.
In 2021 alone, we helped more than 80 dementia commuters reunite with their loved ones, and we record over 100 Go-To SMRT evidence-based stories every month.
Leveraging technology to enhance accessibility
While we have the mandate of a public transport operator to maintain and operate transport services, what defines us and our work is our efforts to go beyond that and focus on delivering a commuter-centred experience for all commuter groups.
We identify and deploy innovative solutions to leverage technology and augment our other efforts to make public transport more accessible.
Navilens app interface when guiding visually-impaired commuters at Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub (WITH)
SMRT was the first public transport operator in Asia to deploy NaviLens, an indoor navigation mobile app designed to aid visually-impaired commuters get around our transport nodes.
We first trialled NaviLens in June 2021 in some areas of Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub (WITH) when it opened for operations, teaming up with two social service agencies – the Guide Dogs Singapore Ltd (GDS) and Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) – to fine-tune NaviLens’ user accessibility in real-world situations through various tweaks before we launched it officially to cover the whole of WITH in May 2022.
Since then, NaviLens has also been rolled out across all SMRT-operated bus interchanges, with plans also to extend this innovative solution to MRT stations.
SMRT staff with visually-impaired commuter using Navilens
Collaborating and digitalising to support the community
Inclusive travel solutions and inclusive service delivery will always be part of SMRT’s DNA for customer-centricity.
SMRT hopes to integrate responsible stewardship and social leadership by striking a balance between the twin pillars of business growth and social mission. This will serve as a key tenet of how we run our public transport and commercial business, especially as we continue striving to be an industry leader for other commercial organisations to follow suit.
We remain focused on delivering service that have our commuters at the heart of our operations. Our people strive to deliver exceptional service and leverage innovative solutions in operations, maintenance, and customer service to enhance the commuting experience. In the years to come, we intend to leverage data and digitalisation to impact commuters positively.
We are also keen to explore collaboration with suitable partners who could help us better support different commuters and make travel accessible to them. This extends to the level of training our people must have to be able to provide the right assistance that meets the needs of different commuters, adequately and sensitively.
We are committed to doing our part to have a positive impact on the lives of our commuters and community because we are in the business of Moving People and Enhancing Lifestyles.
