Needy commuters such as the elderly, pregnant and parents travelling with strollers will soon get to enter trains and lifts first at all MRT stations, in a move towards a more gracious society, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Thursday (March 31).
Priority Qeueus will be implemented at platform screen doors and passenger lifts to complement the current queue lines provided for commuters to wait to let passengers alight from trains before entering.
LTA said it has worked with transport operators SMRT and SBS Transit to first implement the Priority Queue stickers at six MRT stations.
These are namely: Novena (North-South Line), Outram Park (East-West and North East Line), Chinatown (North East Line), Sengkang (North East Line) and Kent Ridge (Circle Line).
The stations were chosen for their close proximity to hospitals and high usage by seniors, and the stickers have already been put in place.
The locations at the platform screen doors correspond with the wheelchair parking space allocated in train cars and they are also generally closer to the lifts and away from escalators where human traffic is heaviest.
A survey will be conducted over two months to gather public feedback.
Based on the feedback received, LTA said it may modify the design of the Priority Queue before calling a tender to roll out the markings at all MRT and LRT stations.
At LRT stations, the Priority Queue stickers will be placed only at passenger lifts. Stickers will not be installed at platform edges due to the limited number of train doorways at LRT stations, added LTA.
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