Fancy yourself travelling to work by boat?
<cite class="byline vcard" style="font-style: normal; color: rgb(125, 125, 125); font-size: 13px; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; vertical-align: middle; line-height: 2.2em; ">By Jeanette Tan | Yahoo! Newsroom – <abbr title="2011-12-21T16:14:43+00:00" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; ">14 hours ago</abbr></cite>
Ferries could play a larger role in public transport around the Raffles Place and Marina Bay area come 2013. (Getty Images)
Could water transport be a plausible future option for commuters in Singapore?
That question is being explored by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which on Tuesday put up an open tender for two water taxi operators to provide boat bridging services across two different routes along the Singapore River.
One route, it says in an 18-page tender document detailing its requirements for potential operators, will ply between the Jiak Kim Bridge, near Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and the Marina Barrage. It will pass through landmarks like Liang Court, Raffles Place, Clifford Pier, Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Flyer, said the authority.
The other will start at Rivergate, near Riverview Hotel, and end at the Barrage, passing through Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, Merlion Park, the Esplanade, Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Flyer. Each successful operator, said the URA, will take control of one route each, stopping its boats at a total of 13 landing points per route, including their start and end-points.
Electric-charged and environmentally-friendly boats, it says, will arrive at either 10 or 15-minute intervals — depending on whether you choose the regular or express service, the latter of which goes to passenger-designated stops, during peak hours of the day. The proposed water transport service will also be expected to have minimum daily operating hours of 7am to 10pm, to be extended where URA deems necessary.
Fares will be fair, says the URA, pitting a ride on a regular ferry service to cost at most three dollars, and one on an express service to cost at most four. It also proposed the implementation of smaller taxi-like services, which can be booked in advance.
And why now? The URA says it is high time to employ our three-kilometre Singapore River, which extends to a new freshwater reservoir called the Marina Reservoir. This, it says, offers opportunities for transportation services, sightseeing and entertainment cruises, leisure boating, recreational water activities and even water sporting events.
“Also, the increasing number of residents and growing number of hotels (along the) Singapore River and Marina Bay means that there is a larger captive market, while the finite capacity of the road transport system offers new opportunities for water transportation to serve as an alternative commuting mode,” it added.
The URA has opened its tender to all local and foreign companies, and all interested parties are required to submit their applications by the end of January next year. It says it will award licences to its successful bidders by February, and they kick in at the beginning of 2013, giving the two operators a little less than a year to build up stations, shelters, lighting, charging points, ticketing booths and possible retail spaces along the route as well. Licences will last for three years and can be extended for a further two terms of three years each.
Currently, Singapore has two companies that operate water transport services, but mainly run sightseeing trips for tourists. Singapore River Cruise as well as Duck and Hippo, which operates Singapore’s Duck Tours, have expressed their interest in submitting bids to The Straits Times, which first reported news of the tender.
<cite class="byline vcard" style="font-style: normal; color: rgb(125, 125, 125); font-size: 13px; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; vertical-align: middle; line-height: 2.2em; ">By Jeanette Tan | Yahoo! Newsroom – <abbr title="2011-12-21T16:14:43+00:00" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; ">14 hours ago</abbr></cite>
Ferries could play a larger role in public transport around the Raffles Place and Marina Bay area come 2013. (Getty Images)Could water transport be a plausible future option for commuters in Singapore?
That question is being explored by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which on Tuesday put up an open tender for two water taxi operators to provide boat bridging services across two different routes along the Singapore River.
One route, it says in an 18-page tender document detailing its requirements for potential operators, will ply between the Jiak Kim Bridge, near Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and the Marina Barrage. It will pass through landmarks like Liang Court, Raffles Place, Clifford Pier, Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Flyer, said the authority.
The other will start at Rivergate, near Riverview Hotel, and end at the Barrage, passing through Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, Merlion Park, the Esplanade, Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Flyer. Each successful operator, said the URA, will take control of one route each, stopping its boats at a total of 13 landing points per route, including their start and end-points.
Electric-charged and environmentally-friendly boats, it says, will arrive at either 10 or 15-minute intervals — depending on whether you choose the regular or express service, the latter of which goes to passenger-designated stops, during peak hours of the day. The proposed water transport service will also be expected to have minimum daily operating hours of 7am to 10pm, to be extended where URA deems necessary.
Fares will be fair, says the URA, pitting a ride on a regular ferry service to cost at most three dollars, and one on an express service to cost at most four. It also proposed the implementation of smaller taxi-like services, which can be booked in advance.
And why now? The URA says it is high time to employ our three-kilometre Singapore River, which extends to a new freshwater reservoir called the Marina Reservoir. This, it says, offers opportunities for transportation services, sightseeing and entertainment cruises, leisure boating, recreational water activities and even water sporting events.
“Also, the increasing number of residents and growing number of hotels (along the) Singapore River and Marina Bay means that there is a larger captive market, while the finite capacity of the road transport system offers new opportunities for water transportation to serve as an alternative commuting mode,” it added.
The URA has opened its tender to all local and foreign companies, and all interested parties are required to submit their applications by the end of January next year. It says it will award licences to its successful bidders by February, and they kick in at the beginning of 2013, giving the two operators a little less than a year to build up stations, shelters, lighting, charging points, ticketing booths and possible retail spaces along the route as well. Licences will last for three years and can be extended for a further two terms of three years each.
Currently, Singapore has two companies that operate water transport services, but mainly run sightseeing trips for tourists. Singapore River Cruise as well as Duck and Hippo, which operates Singapore’s Duck Tours, have expressed their interest in submitting bids to The Straits Times, which first reported news of the tender.
