Case Study 1

SOURCE: Kwan, Weng Kin. 'Cheap, On-demand Transport For Japan's Elderly'. The Straits Times. 8 Sep. 2014. A12. 

Singapore faces the problem of ageing population like Japan does and both countries being in Asia, I found it ideal to obtain a case study from Japan as to see how other country tackles the problem of elderly transportation. 

Japan is a lot bigger than Singapore so unlike Singapore, they do not have train stations located within they vicinity and the people have to travel by buses or taxis. Bus stops are located far and taxis are too expensive. Hence, to make transport more accessible for the elderly, the Japanese government introduced an on-demand bus specifically for the elderly to bring them to places like hospitals and supermarkets for grocery shopping. This cheap, on-demand bus works by booking in advance and a eight-passenger bus would pick up the elderly and drive them to their destinations. With the government subsidy, this service is very affordable for the elderly in Japan. 

However, despite the affordability and convenience of this new service, the demand for it still fall short of what the company in-charge was expecting. This is because elderly may choose not to travel unless necessary like to hospitals which may not even be frequent trips and for them it might be easier to avoid crowds and stay at home instead. Hence, the service goes unused, making it costly to maintain this service.

When I imagine this service being carried out in Singapore, the pick-up points can be a problem. Japan has garbage collection points in housing areas that can be used as pick-up points but Singapore does not. It might be hard to allocate pick-up points. 

This reminded me very much of shuttle buses that hospitals or shopping malls provide for the general public that we already have in Singapore. However, these shuttle buses are limited in pick-up points. 

It might seem like this solution may not work for Singapore but it would be a good solution for housing estates that are more populated with elderly or estates that do not have bus stops or MRT stations within reasonable distance and choosing pick-up points within every few blocks of flats would be ideal. By doing so can make this solution more cost-efficient as well.