Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Hub and spoke system for public transport

Friday, April 02, 2010

Hub and spoke system for public transport

A few people have written to the newspaper to complain about the proposed change to the hub and spoke system for public transport. They do not like having to transfer from one bus to another. They prefer the current system of many buses that travel long distance.

I believe that the hub and spoke system is more efficient and will benefit commuters as a whole. It will simplify the transport system and encourage more people to take public transport. The only drawback is the need to make a transfer, but this can be an advantage as the short walk will be good for health.

Commuters do not like to spend 10 minutes to wait for a transfer. When the new system if fully implemented, I expect that the waiting time will be shorter as there will be more buses to run the shorter routes.

Some people argued that the elderly and disabled will be inconvenienced. I believe that it is better for some other arrangements should be made for them, instead of using public transport.

Tan Kin Lian

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: The current frequency of many feeder buses is already quite poor e.g. the time I take to travel to MRT station on feeder bus including waiting time is longer than the time I would have taken to walk the 4 bus stops. With more shortened routes, there will be a need for even more buses and drivers to avoid overcrowding and long waiting times. The bus companies may use this as a reason to raise fares.; April 02, 2010 6:47 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: A proper feeder bus system should operated as follows:

a) travel a small section of the town
b) use small bus if there is lower demand
c) more frequent, i.e less than 5 mins waiting time
d) low cost

The current feeder service use a large bus and travels to many roads in the town, resulting in longer waiting and travelling time. This is NOT the proper design for a feeder bus service.

The feeder bus service should be subsidised, i.e. no road tax or ERP, so that more people will use it.

In Paris, the trains are subsidised, i.e. 70% of the expenses are paid by the town. More people take public transport due to the low cost. This increases the efficiency of the transport system; April 02, 2010 7:02 PM
A Singaporean said...: It depends on the implementation of the hub and spoke system. As it is currently, I almost cannot stand the bus services. If it is changed to the hub and spoke system without an increase in the service levels, I will find myself taking taxis all the time. Because it does not make sense to wait 15 minutes for a 15 minute journey.; April 02, 2010 8:29 PM
Anonymous said...: I have serious doubts with regard to the viability of the hub and spoke system.

The reason for my doubts is because of the profit maximising behvaiour of the public transport operators. Intead of providing a public service and running buses as frequently as possible, they will most likely profit maximise by running as few buses as possible so that they can pack as many people into each run. Both SMRT and SBS have been guilty of doing this since 2003 and there is little to suggest that this corporate behviour will change.

Under a hub and spoke system, we will therefore have long waits for buses and a large amount of crowding on popular routes. The system can only work if we have rigorous monitoring and enforcemnt of service standards to prevent abuse by the public transport operators.; April 02, 2010 9:19 PM
Hopeless Nincompoops said...: There are many signalised traffic junctions within a HDB town. Each stop is approximately 2mins. 3 junctions means 6mins excluding travel time. Add to this the high volume of cars trying to filter left, or right and the travel time increases another 2 min.

For a distance of less than 2km, a feeder bus may stop at 2 junctions and that is 4 mins + travel time of 2mins that is a total of 6 mins.
Thats why the wait for a feeder bus will be closer to 5mins or more. In our hot & humid weather, this means wet arm pits and unsmiling faces. No wonder, everyone wants to own a car.

Its a chicken & egg story.

What has happened to our PHDs and MBAs?? No viable, palatable solutions?

I do not understand how a hub + spoke system will be any better.
It is still a wait of at least 4 mins or more.. AND I will have to wait in a crowded bus stop which will.. with my luck be drenched in a monsoon shower... and still board a bus and stand.. facing wet arm pits.

Since my school days, I endured running after Green Bus Co, hung onto Tay Koh Yat #92 to Paya Lebar
and waited in vain fo STC # 17 to Holland Village. The improvement now is I get an air-conditioned ride. but still a long wait and stand all the way home.

AAAArrggh!.. when will a utopian bus system ever evolve?.. when I claim my insurance at 89 years?; April 02, 2010 10:00 PM
Anonymous said...: http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2010/05/are-singaporeans-better-off-than-they.html

"The trains have become so crowded during the morning rush hour, I couldn't take the ride anymore because it gets me to work tired - feeder to super packed MRT to another super-packed feeder - so I switched to to taking long haul buses because I have a higher chance of getting a seat trading off half an hour for a more comfortable ride. Imagine my dismay when the announcement about getting rid of long haul buses came out - hub and spoke? I was about to write a suggestion about having very frequent express buses from population centers to areas where people work will relieve the pressure on the MRT system. It seems that the transport minister, Lim Hwee Hua, thinks otherwise. The hub and spoke will result in greater efficiency and shorter travelling times but will add more load to the MRT system. I'll accept the hub and spoke if results in greater comfort. Transport is not just about efficiency - getting people from point A to point B in the shortest time - there is another dimension which is comfort. Has the transport improved over the last 4 years? Not for me....I was pushed from taking taxis by the exorbitant increases in fares to taking bus+MRT then by pushed the overcrowding on MRT to taking long haul buses. For me, transport has become more expensive, less comfortable and less efficient over the past 4 years."

for an actively working person, comfort is very important because if work already tires, a tiring transport wears him out further.
not all issues can be approached from a purely efficiency perspective.; June 03, 2010 10:43 AM