A Safe Dedicated Transport Solution for Migrant Workers

12 mins

*Image credit: Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS from Pexels*

As a contractor, you are probably finding ways to comply with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA)’s COVID-Safe Dedicated Transportation Criteria as you plan transport for migrant workers from their dormitories to their worksites:

Provision of point-to-point dedicated transportation for all migrant workers
Ensure an updated schedule of staggered pick-up / drop-off of migrant workers at accommodations and worksites
Keep proper record of vehicle movements, assigned vehicle numbers and drivers’ details (i.e. NRIC/FIN and Name)

Many contractors are using their own resources like lorries to transport workers to and from dormitories to their worksites. Some are facing insufficient vehicles to fetch workers due to the capacity constraints. Other complications include having to track and keep records of movements for compliance, which can be very challenging without the use of technology. A transport manager may be assigned to arrange the point-to-point transport, but manually planning transport is inefficient and time-consuming, especially if there are changing shifts to consider. There is also no way of making sure your vehicles are used efficiently, leading to higher costs than necessary.

For you to resume work safely, it is important to find a cost-effective transport solution that efficiently addresses the above problems. The use of technology to plan transport with higher efficiency and automate record-keeping is highly encouraged, especially if the overall cost of the transport is maintained.

How can technology work for you?

An effective workers’ transport solution encompasses the provision of an exclusive, point-to-point transport service, while using technology to enable compliance with BCA’s safe regulations and include smart routing and capacity planning capabilities to cope with the complexities of transport planning.

Currently, a marine company located in the north of Singapore engages SWAT Mobility to provide a dedicated 2-way transport service for over 70 workers, 7 days a week. SWAT Mobility works with their contractors to transport the workers from their dormitories islandwide to their respective worksites. The company did not have enough lorries due to the social distancing requirements, and their shortage was overcome by SWAT Mobility supplementing their vehicles with private buses. The company values SWAT Mobility’s ability to conduct contact tracing onboard the vehicles and the flexibility of their system to cater for OT (overtime) transport requirements.

The transport solution by SWAT Mobility involves a powerful system that tracks and records the entire transport journey digitally and a mobile app for the workers to book rides on the transport. The app has an in-built passenger verification feature which the workers can use to verify their boarding and help with contact tracing.

SWAT Mobility’s dynamic system can handle the complexities of different transport scenarios, including different pick-up and drop-off locations, requirements on the segregation of workers, and the capacity planning for mixed fleet sizes. The system takes into account the capacity restrictions of every vehicle and calculates the optimal combination of vehicles to fulfil the demand, while maximising the occupancy rate of each vehicle. It also plans the most optimised route for each vehicle to take, assigns the right number of workers to each service and notifies the workers of their rides through the app.

The service can be shared across contractors and dormitories, while ensuring only workers on the same project are pooled onto the same vehicle. At scale, the cost of ride per user comes down significantly. Reductions in costs come from tailoring the bus sizes according to the number of passengers and greater pooling with workers from similar dorms going to similar worksites.

Contractors can obtain and keep records of all transport-related details through SWAT Mobility’s web portal, including vehicle number plates, driver details, planned route details, and information on actual vehicle movements. The records can be easily exported and compiled for any form of dissemination and compliance.