A Tribute to Our ISB Bus Captains
At NUS, many groups of people work hard behind the scenes to keep our campus services running smoothly. One of these groups would be our Internal Shuttle Bus (ISB) Captains, who work long hours moving staff and students around the NUS Campus daily.
To convey our gratitude to our bus captains, the Office of Campus Amenities (OCA) together with students from Seeds of Good Programme organised a day of appreciation at PGP Terminal on 8 February 2021. Director of OCA, Mr Sng Jin Soon, was on-site to meet with the Bus Captains and hand out appreciation bags, containing limited edition ISB face masks, as well as Chinese New Year goodies. The bus captains were also treated to afternoon refreshments!
In addition, special awards were presented to Bus Captains, Mr Lee Tiong Kheng and Mr Ong Peng Hwa, for being the top two safe driving performers in Year 2020. Over the past two years, bus rides in NUS have gotten smoother with the introduction of smart telematics technology to improve driver behaviours and reinforce fleet safety on a sustainable basis. Like a “Black Box” in a plane, the system collects data on bus captains’ trips, to allow supervisors to better understand the bus captains’ driving performance and alert the bus captains real-time for better awareness and self-improvement, amongst many other benefits.
“As a shuttle bus driver for NUS, I drive many commuters daily, so safety is not something I take for granted,” says Mr Lee. “With telematics technology, I am able to find out more about how I have been driving and improve my driving skills. So, it feels really good to be recognised by the University in this manner.” Mr Ong also chimed in, thanking NUS for recognising their efforts to drive safely. “The telematics technology introduced in 2020 to monitor our driving skills has helped me become a better driver.”
But telematics systems and technology alone will not be enough. It also needs the full support and safety mindedness of all Bus Captains, just like Mr Lee Tiong Kheng and Mr Ong Peng Hwa!