SBS Transit Launches Safety Campaign To Encourage Passengers To Hold Onto Handrails

Every day, millions of commuters board our fleet of over 3,400 buses. Many will be carrying things – or talking on the ubiquitous mobile phone – and many will not be holding onto the handrails or grab poles.

As a result, many will end up losing their footing. Thankfully, most of them will be able to steady themselves to avoid an embarrassing and even painful fall. Some, will however, not be able to and may end up hurting themselves.

In fact, it is estimated that an average of three commuters a month fall and hurt themselves – because they were not holding onto any support structure on the bus.

This is why SBS Transit is launching the “Hold On!” Campaign, aimed at reminding all passengers to hold onto grab poles, stanchion poles and hand grips while on board buses.

To drive home the point in a more fun and visually pleasing manner, giant art pieces, each measuring 1.6 metres by 1.4 metres, will be installed at 16(1) SBS Transit bus interchanges over the next few days.

These works of art were shortlisted from a pool of 585 entries that had been submitted by primary school students across the island.

Twelve-year-old Putra Kimmi Rishedy Bin Zaini of Meridian Primary School, who created the superhero, Chibi Joe, as the theme of his artwork said "I thought of the fictional character because I want to tell my friends why they should use the handrails."

Bryan Tok Hue Junn, 8, of Marsiling Primary School, who submitted an entry portraying animals on a bus, said: "Since I like animals, I imagine that they will also hold on to the handrails if they are taking the bus. I take the public bus once a week with my parents. It’s important to hold on to handrails so that we don’t fall."

All shortlisted entries can also be viewed on SBS Transit's website (www.sbstransit.com.sg) where members of the public are invited to cast their votes for their favourite piece. Public voting will take place from 1 to 25 October 2014.

Fifty voters who pick the winning entry will then stand to win a $20.00 ez-link card. Results of the voting contest will be announced by 31 October.

SBS Transit CEO, Mr Gan Juay Kiat said: “We have a simple yet important message we need to share with our commuters and we felt it would be great to engage the children to help in this. By getting them involved, we hope that they too can be ambassadors and that they can spread the message that a simple act like holding on to the stanchion pole can really make a difference.

“We hope commuters will take this opportunity to enjoy the art pieces, and also vote for their favourite and more importantly, spread the safety message!"

Please refer to the attached Annex for more details.