There is high demand for taxis in Singapore due to the difficulty of taking public transport in places that are not served by the MRT trains.
There are many bus services in Singapore. Commuters who wish to take a bus for a short journey find the services to be confusing and overwhelming. There are too many buses travelling in different directions.
In my view, we need to introduce feeder bus. These are services that travel within a a town, such as Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio or Bedok and take commuters to the town center, MRT station or bus terminal.
It is easy for the commutter to understand this system. Each town needs only two or three feeder services.
I understand that the light buses in Hong Kong acts like a feeder service to take people to the train station. Many people consider the public transport in Hong Kong to be very convenient.
I'd rather take a bus that takes me from point A to point B, rather than take Feeder Bus A to Mrt station, take the train, then take Feeder Bus B again. Changing transport modes will take extra waiting time and inconvenience. e.g. walking to bus stop.
ReplyDeleteAlthough most of the time there isn't a direct bus; not sure how that would work out.
If it's an occasional trip (not daily work commute), i'd rather take a cab instead of spending 2 hours on public transport
I take a bus to the MRT station and take a train to my destination. I find it quite convenient. The short walk is good exercise.
ReplyDeleteI am willing to take a feeder bus to my destination, if I now how to get there.
Under the present system, to take a connecting bus, I may have to wait for 5 buses to pass by before my bus arrives. If it is a feeder system, the first or second bus is likely to be the feeder bus that I need. The waiting time is shorter.
The train journey is fast. The total journey time, including transfers should be about one hour.
Sometimes, the commuter has to wait one hour just to get a taxi.
Dear Mr. Tan,
ReplyDeleteThere are many buses that fit your description of feeder bus. SBS hs 29 feeder routes and SMRT has 14 feeder routes going in the loop around certain neighborhood area to nearest MRT or trunk services.
Some shopping malls like Suntec City, Great World City, Parkway Parade, IMM, etc. hire private buses to provide free transportation to/from nearest MRT station(s). This is also considered as feeder bus.
Even some private houses/condos also provide such transportation service for the residents and neighborhood.
Cheers!
Judhi
There are a few feeder bus services operating in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteWe need to make feeder buses available in all the towns.
The feeder services should be publicised, so that commuters will feel comfortable about moving around the town on feeder buses. Each town should have a map that shows its feeder services.
Commuters should be confident that they can move easily within each town on a feeder bus.
Dear Mr. Tan,
ReplyDeleteIn my town/neighborhood there's no feeder bus service, but there are three bus routes that can take us to nearest MRT station. The waiting time is less than 5 minutes, even better than feeder buses that serve, say, Tanjong Rhu neighborhood and those at MacPherson/Circuit Rd.
About the map, they can be found in some of the bus stops and certainly on the bus terminals. I agree that the bus services map shall be placed more prominently in every bus stop, MRT stations, and public building/facilities.
There are still room for improvement and I believe our LTA and bus companies are doing their best to optimize the routes and services.
Just hope that they read this blog and comments, or you might use your precious network to reach them :)
Kind Regards,
Judhi