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Digital Ground-Sensing of Commuter’s Sentiments
Collaborator
The Public Transport Council (PTC) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) of the Government of òòò½Íøestablished on 14 August 1987 by the Public Transport Council Act (Cap 259B). PTC works in collaboration with commuters, transport operators and government agencies to improve our public transport system by:
- Keeping public transport fare affordable while ensuring the financial sustainability of the public transport system;
- Providing objective, evidence-based advice to the Minister for Transport to improve the service quality of public transport and commuters’ travel experience.
Challenges
To effectively support its role as fare regulator, PTC needs to keep pace with how Singaporeans increasingly experience and express their views and concerns on online platforms. This shift requires new capabilities in digital ground-sensing to monitor and analyse commuter sentiment at scale. In line with Public Sector Transformation and the Land Transport Master Plan 2040, PTC sought to strengthen its digital analytics capabilities to respond to sentiment trends.
PTC and A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing (A*STAR IHPC) established a sentiment analysis project for public transport. The resulting platform, Resonance Social, provides timely insights into public sentiment on transport-related policies and announcements. This platform and the sentiment analytics have supported more informed and responsive policy decision-making by PTC.
Solution
Resonance Social – An Online Platform to Process Real-Time Social Media Sentiments
Since 2018, A*STAR IHPC has made steady strides in building its sentiment analysis capabilities. The journey began with Crystalace and CrystalFeel, a standalone emotion analysis engine capable of accurately analysing text such as social media posts or comments expressed in general or local expressions and detecting sarcasm. This in-house model and research capability laid the groundwork for more sophisticated analytical capabilities. A major breakthrough came in April 2020 with the launch of Resonance Social, an online platform designed to process real-time social media data.
Using Resonance Social, the time required to interpret datasets dropped from around 120 minutes to just 5 minutes. The overall data analysis time was reduced by up to 83%. Between 2021 and 2023, PTC focused on strengthening the digital competences of its officers and introducing Resonance across other agencies within the MOT family.
Since 2018, A*STAR IHPC has made steady strides in building its sentiment analysis capabilities. The journey began with Crystalace and CrystalFeel, a standalone emotion analysis engine capable of accurately analysing text such as social media posts or comments expressed in general or local expressions and detecting sarcasm. This in-house model and research capability laid the groundwork for more sophisticated analytical capabilities. A major breakthrough came in April 2020 with the launch of Resonance Social, an online platform designed to process real-time social media data.
Using Resonance Social, the time required to interpret datasets dropped from around 120 minutes to just 5 minutes. The overall data analysis time was reduced by up to 83%. Between 2021 and 2023, PTC focused on strengthening the digital competences of its officers and introducing Resonance across other agencies within the MOT family.
Building on this foundation, 2023 saw the integration of Crystalace, an enhanced sarcasm detection feature into Resonance, and its refinement using domain expert-labelled datasets from PTC. The platform entered a new phase of capability in 2024 under the stewardship of the Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety (CATOS)1. Key upgrades included the integration of topic modelling and Large Language Model (LLM), multi-lingual support and the ability to analyse in-house and survey data. These enhancements have greatly expanded the platform’s analytical depth and versatility, enabling PTC to draw more nuanced, timely, and actionable insights from a diverse range of data sources.
Journey of Sentiment Analysis for Public Transport (SAPT) in PTC
Image source: PTC
Key Results
This capability was applied for Singapore’s Fare Review Exercises 2023 and 2024, achieving a significant improvement in sentiment accuracy from 59% to 73% without increasing processing time. New features such as topic modelling and the ability to upload and analyse in-house data further enhanced analytical efficiency and streamlined workflows. These enhancements not only supported operational use but also made the platform more versatile and accessible to new adopters. Notably, based on its proven value, the platform was recommended by PTC for broader adoption across the MOT family.
The multi-year, multi-project collaborative innovation between PTC and A*STAR IHPC on the sentiment analysis platform has delivered notable results across multiple dimensions.
The introduction of Resonance Social to PTC’s analytics process led to a reduction in total data analysis time by up to 83% and improved classification accuracy by up to 72%. Encouraged by the outcome, PTC had a further collaboration with A*STAR IHPC to integrate a sarcasm detection feature into the platform.
This capability was applied for Singapore’s Fare Review Exercises 2023 and 2024, achieving a significant improvement in sentiment accuracy from 59% to 73% without increasing processing time. New features such as topic modelling and the ability to upload and analyse in-house data further enhanced analytical efficiency and streamlined workflows. These enhancements not only supported operational use but also made the platform more versatile and accessible to new adopters. Notably, based on its proven value, the platform was recommended by PTC for broader adoption across the MOT family.
In parallel, the PTC analytics team has also been trained and equipped with the necessary digital skillsets (e.g., topic modelling) to effectively handle the full spectrum of tasks required in sentiment analysis.
Significant Progress
These outcomes reflect a strong trajectory from research to real-world impact. The Resonance Social platform has evolved into a practical, scalable solution ready for real-world applications, earning both mutual trust and external validation. Its enhanced accuracy, efficiency, and flexibility position it as a core tool for public sentiment monitoring and strategic communications, with growing momentum for potential wider adoption across government agencies.
1 CATOS hosts Singapore’s Online Trust and Safety (OTS) Research Programme and leads the development and applications of technological capabilities to combat online harms. For more information, visit .
These outcomes reflect a strong trajectory from research to real-world impact. The Resonance Social platform has evolved into a practical, scalable solution ready for real-world applications, earning both mutual trust and external validation. Its enhanced accuracy, efficiency, and flexibility position it as a core tool for public sentiment monitoring and strategic communications, with growing momentum for potential wider adoption across government agencies.
1 CATOS hosts Singapore’s Online Trust and Safety (OTS) Research Programme and leads the development and applications of technological capabilities to combat online harms. For more information, visit .
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