A formal proposal to restructure the public transport industry, which includes a mega-merger of the two major transport companies in Singapore, has been sent to the government.

It was submitted by Mr Lim Jit Poh, chairman of transport giant ComfortDelGro, according to a report in The Straits Times today.

This follows a call from the Transport Ministry six months ago for an industry review to raise public transport ridership sizeably.

The proposal, said the ST report, suggests two options: either a mega-merger with rival SMRT to create a single public transport group, or having one operator run the buses and the other, trains.

While both SBS Transit and SMRT have train and bus services, SBS Transit does not make much money from rail. This is conversely the case with SMRT and their bus services.

Problems for commuters have arisen from this clash, as too many bus services were removed to avoid duplicating MRT services. Commuters also require more transfers and as a result, travel in many parts of the island is far from "seamless".

Statistics from the General Household Survey 2005 conducted by the Department of Statistics found that the proportion of commuters who could take a straight bus to work had fallen from 25 per cent in 2000 to 21.9 in 2005. Furthermore, those who had to take both bus and train went up from 13.9 to 15.1 per cent

While the Transport Ministry declined to reveal the contents of the proposal by ComfortDelGro, it is expected to release results of its review by the end of the year, said The Straits Times.

SMRT President Saw Phaik Hwa told ST that a bus-versus-train set-up could mean duplication of resources and as a results, higher fares. She added that it may not be environmentally sound.

Ms Saw said it was unnecessary to overhaul the industry, but improvements could be made.