By Sia Ling Xin

RETIREE Heng Cho Choon, 66, was more than an hour late for his lunch appointment in Yishun last Saturday, after getting caught in a bad traffic jam while driving from his home in Jalan Jurong Kechil.

He was among thousands of motorists and bus commuters who were trapped in massive islandwide traffic jams when oil giant Shell Eastern Petroleum rolled out its biggest promotion in a decade - petrol going at $1 per litre from 10am to 6pm that day.

Unhappy motorists and commuters have since been writing to the press and online forums to complain.

Mr Heng said: "The jam didn't let up even four hours later, when I was on my way back. Imagine how many people were stuck that day all over Singapore."

Student Lee Wei En, 18, who was trapped in a 40-minute traffic jam while on a bus to the city, said: "This promotion shortchanged many road users who did not use the cheap petrol."

Some people, such as Mr Heng, have called for such promotions to be banned. But if they are here to stay, one way to minimise the inconvenience would be to schedule promotions at night after the evening rush hour, as there is less traffic, he suggested.

Shell had said earlier that it was afraid it would be perceived as being insincere by customers if it offered the promotion only at night.

But motorist Pamela Tng, 28, a sales manager who waited for about 45 minutes for the cheaper petrol at a Bukit Batok Shell station, said: "I don't think Shell has to worry about customers saying it is insincere by having promotions at night if it explains that it's for the ease of all road users.

"If people queue in the middle of the day for cheap petrol, they'd probably queue at night too."

Shell could also consider giving out discount coupons instead, suggested Mr Malcolm Chan, 34, an IT consultant who had been too daunted by the length of the queue at a Shell station in Yishun that day to join in.

Drivers could drive by to collect the coupons, and redeem them at any time the next week, he said.

Other petrol companies have found ways to carry out promotions without causing traffic jams.

ExxonMobil offers discounts over a number of weeks, said its Singapore retail manager, Ms Thia Ling Ling.

Chevron, which held a similar promotion in April, did so on a Friday evening and limited it to 92 cars at each of its Caltex stations.

This meant that drivers could fill their tanks after work without taking up time meant for their weekend activities, said its spokesman. It also informed the Traffic Police in advance and deployed employees to help with traffic control at each station.

This is not the first time a Shell promotion has led to roads being clogged up. Two months ago, Shell offered a National Day promotion - 44 cents off each litre - which resulted in a similar situation. At the time, the only measure it took was to contact the Traffic Police.

But, this time, it took additional measures to prevent congestion. It hired about 150 Certis Cisco auxiliary policemen to help manage traffic, and stopped the promotion at three stations to help regulate vehicle flow after discussions with the Traffic Police, said its general manager of sales and operations, Mr Henry Chu.

He said that Shell is "encouraged by happy customers who have shared positive feedback".

He said: "We will evaluate the promotion in totality and decide whether or not we will run a similar initiative in future.

We also take on board suggestions for improvement...and are open to any further feedback."

lingxin@sph.com.sg

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