Bruno Wildermuth

 

Putting Singapore On the Right Track

 

Swiss national and Singapore Permanent Resident Bruno Wildermuth is a key figure behind Singapore’s MRT system. He also established the world’s first integrated ticketing system in Singapore.

 

The transport situation in Singapore in its early days of independence was haphazard. In the 1960s and early 1970s, buses were slow and broke down often, while pirate taxis plied the streets. From 1968 onwards, new roads were built and the bus companies were reorganised and merged into a single entity, Singapore Bus Service (SBS). Planning for longer-term transport infrastructure began around that time. But the government was still divided over whether to stump up significant investment to build an MRT as there were competing demands from public housing and Changi Airport.

In 1972, the government and the World Bank invited transport planner Bruno Wildermuth and his colleagues from transport and infrastructure consultancy Wilbur Smith and Associates to study the feasibility of a high-speed mass transit system for Singapore. The firm had recommended a billion-dollar islandwide rail system as the backbone of Singapore’s public transport network. Assessments thereafter concluded that it would cost a massive $5 billion. Buses could feed the areas beyond the rail network, said Wilbur Smith in its report. But the report made clear that this view was unconventional. The World Bank, in reviewing the report, was not convinced and concluded that the bus-rail system it had proposed would be “uneconomical”.

An intense debate on the MRT system took place in Parliament and ended inconclusively, so a team from Harvard University was brought in to review Wilbur Smith’s findings and recommendations. The Harvard team agreed with the World Bank and concluded in its review that “the case for building an MRT is not compelling”. A restructured all-bus system was the way to go, it said.

Then-Minister for Communications Ong Teng Cheong believed otherwise, so he invited Bruno, who had left Singapore in 1976, back to make a case for the MRT. Thus began the Great MRT Debate. Upon arriving, Bruno submitted reports to the Cabinet, arguing that the MRT system, though costly to implement, would be a convenient, cost effective and reliable necessity for Singapore’s long-term development.

Recalling how he had fought for the MRT, Bruno said emphatically, “We did all the calculations and projections so I was sure that I was right!” The Harvard team, he said, had not considered the large volumes of passengers who would move across the island for work and school as the country grew. Due to this, increasing bus speeds would not be feasible and constructing more bus lanes would not make the transport system more efficient. The Harvard team also did not consider that passengers getting on and off buses would slow them down. It could not respond when quizzed about these issues, including how buses could travel faster as it had insisted, said Bruno. The exchanges between the pro-MRT and pro-Bus consultants culminated in a debate at the Istana where each side presented its case to Cabinet ministers, Bruno recalled. Then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was present, said Bruno, and it seemed as though he agreed with the pro-MRT team. The debate between the opposing consultants was also brought to national television in November 1980. In 1982, the government announced that the MRT would be built.

In 1984, Bruno joined the MRT Corporation (MRTC)—known today as SMRT Corporation—as its manager for planning and computer services. By then, his wife, Maja, and two sons, had moved to Singapore. The couple had met and married in Zurich in 1962 before Bruno had left for his master’s degree in city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley.

At MRTC, Bruno pushed for the North-South line to pass through Orchard Road. The Orchard station is where it is now because he was able to convince his colleagues that the high volume of people visiting the shopping belt could justify the exorbitant building costs. At the same time, Bruno advocated having distance-based fares for the MRT. The price of MRT travel was pegged between that of an air-conditioned and non-air conditioned bus travelling the same distance. By starting from a lower fare compared to the air-con buses, passengers would be drawn to taking the MRT, said Bruno. When travelling further, passengers paid more, but Bruno argued that this would not deter them because they were paying for speed and comfort.

The first station at Toa Payoh opened in 1987 and more than 120,000 commuters turned up on the first day to experience the new mode of public transport. By 1990, 67 kilometres of MRT tracks had been built: the North-South Line from Yishun to Marina Bay, and the East-West Line from Pasir Ris to Boon Lay. The MRT—more reliable and comfortable than the buses—proved popular with the public. In 1990, Bruno went to transit services company Transit Link to set up an integrated ticketing system, which aimed to provide a common fare payment system on both bus and MRT services. The result of that was the birth of an everyday item—the stored value transport card. When Bruno left Transit Link in 1992, he went on to set up his eponymous firm and advised other countries on their transport ticketing systems.

Bruno retired at the age of 77 in 2013. He continues to give feedback to the press on fine-tuning Singapore’s public transport system. He has suggested publishing bus timetables to offer commuters certainty and the ability to plan their travel and has openly voiced his concerns on the maintenance of the MRT system and argued for an independent public transport regulator, a role which the Land Transport Authority currently plays. In view of a series of train delays and breakdowns since 2011, he has called for an independent assessment of the state of the rail network. After 50 years of rapid growth, he said it is time for Singapore to focus on a more “people-oriented approach” to land use and transport planning—one that ensures a friendly environment for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users.

Bruno was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 1988 for his contributions to the country’s public transport system.

References

“Expert Named to Study MRT Findings,” The Straits Times, September, 5 1980.

“Singapore has Become a City for Cars, Not People,” National University of Singapore Society 24 (2015), http://www.nuss.org.sg/publication/1431319874_commentary2015_FINAL.pdf

Wilbur Smith and Associates, Republic of Singapore Mass Transit Phase II (Washington D.C.: United Nations Development Program, World Bank, 1977).

Interview with Bruno Wildermuth in April 2015.

 

 

Bruno Wildermuth
Switzerland, b.1936