Is queueing a uniquely Singapore phenomenon? Liew Sai Ming, a Behavioural Insights Consultant talks to us about the "science" behind queuing, and how this informs Singapore's urban design.
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Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
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00:00How do you think I can make myself look more popular?
00:03I don't know.
00:04Oh, well.
00:11Hi Simon! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today.
00:17What is Behavioural Insights?
00:19Well, Behavioural Insights is kind of this study around human behaviour.
00:23We try to use these understandings or these insights around human behaviour
00:28to try and influence that to help them lead better lives.
00:32Are you doing it right now? Influencing me to behave in a certain way?
00:35No, not at all.
00:36Okay, that's good to hear.
00:37We have such a queuing culture in Singapore.
00:39And I understand that BIT or the Behavioural Insights team
00:42actually looked into queuing culture.
00:44So what have you found out about queuing culture in Singapore?
00:46Well, I think there are a few reasons maybe why people queue.
00:50So people might queue out of necessity.
00:52They might also queue because queuing is a social activity.
00:57Let's say you were going to a hawker centre, a new one,
01:00and you didn't really know what the food was like there.
01:03A queue gives you some social information about the quality of different places.
01:07And you might look at one place and say,
01:09that's got a longer queue versus this other one that has almost no queue.
01:13I don't want to regret this choice, so I'm going to join the one with the longer queue.
01:16And do you find this is a uniquely Singaporean phenomenon?
01:19What is uniquely Singaporean maybe is the queuing for discounted or free stuff.
01:26So you think Singaporeans care less about quality and more about free things?
01:31The queue provides them a sense of value to this item.
01:35So while these items may be free or heavily discounted,
01:40I think people might queue because queuing increases the value of that item.
01:44And it could be an act of kindness that you do for someone in your family.
01:47For example, if they say, this is my favourite thing,
01:50and you know there's a long queue,
01:51the act of queuing and telling them about how you perform that
01:55might increase the value and your kindness towards that person.
01:58Increase your value in their eyes because you queued for them.
02:01I'll keep that in mind to influence my husband's thinking of me.
02:05How have these insights about Singaporean queuing culture affected urban design in Singapore?
02:10So say you need to take the train to go somewhere.
02:13So an MRT station would have to have ample space, but you also need guidance.
02:17An MRT station is likely to have people who are local.
02:21It's also likely to have lots of foreigners
02:23or people who maybe don't understand the same culture that we have.
02:26So in that case, you can provide guidance to everyone,
02:29such as all the lines on the floor to say where you should stand,
02:32who should come out first.
02:34And that tells people what the right thing to do is.
02:36And once people start behaving that way,
02:38people look towards others and say,
02:40I see, I understand this is the way I should behave.
02:43And therefore you influence that behaviour.
02:46There are these design principles that we can use to nudge behaviour.
02:49And I think they're particularly effective in Singapore
02:52because we do have a general compliance culture.
02:56Oh, where do you think that comes from?
02:58So in terms of policy level changes,
03:01there might be fines to reduce, say, spitting in Singapore.
03:04But over time, that has also changed the general attitude of Singaporeans
03:08in wanting to comply with this.
03:10And so maybe Singaporeans are not so compliant
03:12because of that fine that existed years ago,
03:15but it's because this general attitude has built up over time.
03:18Right, that if you are not socially compliant
03:21to these different types of acceptable behaviours,
03:23they feel that that's wrong or it could even be punishable.
03:26Yeah, people know what they need to do when they see that.
03:29They don't have to spend time or effort figuring that out.
03:32Oh, there are these lines on the ground.
03:34This is how we should behave.
03:35People are maybe more likely to be compliant with that request
03:38rather than if you were just to tell someone
03:40that this is what they should do.
03:42Right, you see the lines on the ground, you say,
03:43can't you see the lines on the ground?
03:44We're supposed to be queuing before we get into the train, right?
03:47And then you have the moral high ground.
03:49Do you see any other kind of innovations to design
03:51that might be coming up that will affect how Singaporeans queue or not queue?
03:56They might make things more pleasant for customers
03:58by making their queuing experience different or unique
04:02by providing different activities.
04:04It could be providing someone with a digital queue
04:07so that they can go around to do other errands that they have
04:10before they come and sit down to eat.
04:13I think one important thing is making sure that when we do provide that,
04:17because now we can't actually see what the queue is like,
04:20that we reduce some of the anxiety that people might face.
04:23You need a queue that's maybe short enough
04:26that people feel that it's an okay experience,
04:29but long enough that it generates enough interest in your business as well.
04:33I see. Thank you so much, Simon.
04:34I feel I've learned so much about queues today.
04:38Okay, behavioural insight sounds hard.
04:41It's really not very much because you're human too.
04:45Thank you. That's the nicest thing somebody's ever said to me.