On the Singapore Public Transport trains breakdown crisis on social media

1. JamiQ Private Limited
67 South Bridge Road Level 3
Singapore 058697
ACRA: 200817573N
JamiQ Research Report Series
Issue 1, Volume 2012
Analysis on Singapore Public Transit Trains Breakdown Crisis
1st December 2011 – 15th March 2012

2. JamiQ Private Limited
67 South Bridge Road Level 3
Singapore 058697
ACRA: 200817573N
Background
The premise of this report is to examine a correlation with a failure in the
transport system to an exponential increase of conversations in the
Twittersphere. This report covers the insights we uncovered from monitoring
Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) from 1st December 2011, the month
when the first major breakdowns and delays occurred till 15th March 2012.
This report will cover:
1. The difference in the volume of tweets before, during and after the
breakdowns
2. The shift of attention from the situation to the management of the
company operating the trains
3. The time it takes for interest in any particular issue to subside
Significance of the MRT
The MRT forms a key component of transport in Singapore. It is a railway
system that spans the mass of the country and is comprised of four lines,
three of which are operated by SMRT Corporation and one by SBS transit.
The railway system itself is owned by the Land Transport Authority.
The MRT served over 2.4 million commuters to and fro their destinations in
2011.
Up until December 2011, no major breakdowns or delays had occurred since
the start of operations on 7 November 1987. This situation allowed us to
examine how the general public reacts to a failing on an agency’s part, from
which we can draw upon how to handle similar crisis’ in future.
Lament of the Singaporean
Singaporeans take to cyberspace to spread word of a crisis
The last year had demonstrated during the Arab Spring uprisings that social
media was the fastest medium by which news travelled. We wanted to put
that theory to the test on the home front, how would Singaporeans react on
Twitter, Facebook and the like in face of the ever dodgy performance of the
MRT in Singapore.
Our hypothesis was that the microblog Twitter would be abuzz with chatter
during a breakdown and quickly disseminate this information faster than any
news network could. We were absolutely right on this.

3. JamiQ Private Limited
67 South Bridge Road Level 3
Singapore 058697
ACRA: 200817573N
th
Number of conversations from 1 December – 15 March
Our data revealed that conversations revolving around the MRT were non-
existent before 13th December 2011. After the 13th however, we see a spike
as demonstrated in table 1.1, from an average of 70 conversations a day,
SMRT had over 1000 conversations regarding their services. This was of
course an estimated 2500% increase in chatter.
Of course, chatter is merely noise without listening. We proceeded to analyse
the great sea of complaints and drew several insights. Utilizing JamiQ buzz
we wanted to find the average sentiment of the thousands of conversations in
the Twittersphere and what was the oculus of the average Singaporean
fixating on.
Throwing saw under the train
How long does it take for Singaporeans to start pondering whose fault it is?
st
Table depicting sentiment from 1 December 2011 – 15 March 2012
We found that negative sentiment, though consistently high during mid-
December 2011 until late December 2011, was due to a myriad of different

4. JamiQ Private Limited
67 South Bridge Road Level 3
Singapore 058697
ACRA: 200817573N
factors. In December 2012 the ire of people was largely focused around the
breakdown of trains. However as January crept in, the negativity started to
gravitate around the ex-CEO of SMRT Saw Phaik Hwa.
An interesting phenomenon here was the average number of days it took for
Singaporeans to collectively figure out who was in charge to “throw her under
the train”. It took Singaporeans over a week to commence the witch hunt.
What was more interesting was that after being repeatedly run over by the
angry train and when Saw finally quit, the negative sentiment online
dampened by a large margin , it was as if the Twittersphere felt that Justice
had been served.
Celebrating its 3 month breakdown anniversary
Only 20-30% of Singaporeans “revel” in the March breakdown
Nearly 3 months after its first breakdown, the MRT celebrated its 3 month
anniversary with another breakdown on the north east line operated by SBS.
This allowed us to contrast the reactions of Singaporeans in March against
their reactions in December 2011.
We found that the number of conversations online regarding trains ranged
from only 20-30% of the numbers that we observed in December 2011. This
can be attributed to an adjusted Singaporean mentality accepting that train
breakdowns are becoming commonplace.
We observe that it takes slightly over a month from the beginning of a crisis
like MRT breakdowns for the general public to become generally disdainful
again with regards to the situation.
However, what we conclude is that once the attention of the general public is
drawn toward an issue, it will take far more than three months for them to
completely forget about it. Our data indicates that during January, the nadir of
breakdowns in this three month period, there was still a great deal of negative
chatter about the MRT.

5. JamiQ Private Limited
67 South Bridge Road Level 3
Singapore 058697
ACRA: 200817573N
Grand Takeaways
Company’s avatar must be prepared, monitoring vital in identifying salient
issues
When it comes down to monitoring social media feeds after a company error,
the margin change in the number of conversation entries can determine the
magnitude of the situation before it appears on the television or tomorrow’s
papers. The sentiment on the other hand will determine the tone of the
response that needs to be prepared, be it apologetic or defensive.
Whilst any public relations or communications executive could tell you that
people talk online and they will definitely talk about your blunders on twitter,
we conclude that it’s next to impossible to identify the key issues that people
are unhappy about with actually looking at every single conversation.
SMRT eventually managed to lower the negative sentiment that was
generated toward their company only after two months. Apart from a general
lack of engagement on social media networks, the major drawback in their
crisis approach was an inability to identify the key factors that generated
negativity towards their brand.
An example their inability to address issues that Singaporeans had tolerated
before breakdowns that were brought up by unhappy netizens. This included
congestion and punctuality issues, though unrelated to what actually caused
the breakdown, when combined it had an effect of compounding the gravity of
the fiasco.
It is imperative that the figure representing the company is ready to deal with
the flak the public will inevitably arrive. Traditionally companies have been
able to weather PR storms by staying silent; this situation has clearly
demonstrated that strategy is no longer infallible.

6. JamiQ Private Limited
67 South Bridge Road Level 3
Singapore 058697
ACRA: 200817573N
Timeline of events
Date Event
13th December 2011  First major breakdown of MRT
15th December 2011  Second disruption occurs on both directions of
the north south line
 Public Outrage over “Income opportunity”
message leaked to public
17th December 2011  Disruptions at Ang Mo Kio and Marina Bay
Stations
18th December 2011  Prime Minister Lee announces public inquiry to
investigate the cause of breakdowns
19th December 2011  Minister for transport Lui Tuck Yew holds a
press conference to address the breakdowns
and announce response
 CEO of SMRT Saw pledges to stay put in the
company to “get the problem fixed”
22th December 2011  Ong Ye Kun appointed to head SMRT probe.
29th December 2011  Committee of Inquiry appointed to investigate
the breakdowns
6th January 2012  Saw Phaik Hwa resigns
9th January 2012  Minister Lui Tuck Yew delivers ministerial
statement that announces gaps in the way
emergencies are handled
10th January 2012  Minor Disruption: Trains delayed along North
South line
21st February 2012  Free bus bridging services announced in event
of train breakdown
8th March 2012  Minor Disruption: Trains delayed twice at Pasir
Ris Station
15th March 2012  Breakdown of the North East Line