Boosting performance of road infrastructure : A case study based on motorist satisfaction in Singapore

Purpose – Singapore's land transportation is governed by a comprehensive set of rules, regulations, operations and systems to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is the main agency in charge of road operations. Despite the LTA's best efforts, road related problems still surface every now and then. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how to boost the performance of existing road infrastructure. Using Singapore as a case, the specific research objectives are to: ascertain motorists’ level of satisfaction with the road infrastructure; find out problems faced by motorists when using the road infrastructure; determine factors affecting motorists’ satisfaction with the road infrastructure; and design and test a model to predict motorists’ satisfaction with the road infrastructure. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was conducted on motorists. Through a combination of convenience sampling and snowball sampling, a total of 53 responses were collected. After the survey, interviews were conducted with subject matter experts to understand the current practices and possible solutions to the problems. Findings – The most significant problem is water ponding on roads. Traffic redirection due to road works and coordination among government agencies in road opening works also did not achieve significantly good ratings. Two practices are found to directly give rise to higher satisfaction with the road infrastructure: road cleanliness; and efficiency in traffic redirection arising from road works. Research limitations/implications – Motorists were asked to rate on a ten‐point scale. This may give rise to bias because satisfaction and performance are subjective and not easily quantified. Practical implications – Motorists’ satisfaction level with the road infrastructure is dependent on cleanliness of roads and efficiency of traffic diversion when there are road works. The implication is that the government should arrange for roads to be regularly cleaned and at the same time educate the public to keep roads clean and enforce laws against those who litter. The time for traffic diversion should be minimized by increasing productivity of road works, so that these can be completed quickly. Originality/value – The road network is a valuable infrastructural asset of a country. Due to its large scale and complexity, managing road operations is no easy feat. Even though Singapore has a comprehensive set of procedures, rules and regulations to manage this asset, problems and complaints continue to surface. This study has identified the major problems plaguing Singapore's road infrastructure. Furthermore, a model to predict motorists’ satisfaction with the road infrastructure was successfully developed and tested. With this knowledge in mind, the LTA can focus on improving these factors to boost performance of road infrastructure through road maintenance and road works.