Tuesday, March 11, 2014

How to encourage commuters to take the bus

Most people like to take the train in Singapore because the routes and the stations of the lines are clearly marked. They know the "map" by heart or can look it up easily.

What about the bus services? There are more than 200 bus services and 2,000 bus stops. How can anyone remember this system?

Even if they know what bus to take, they will not know which stop to alight. The stops are not numbered (unlike the train). They have to look for landmark (such as block 234 of ABC road). Who would know how to identify this stop, unless it belongs to his or her neighborhood.

Hence, most people avoid taking the bus, except for the service that they are familiar and they take it regularly.

There is a simple way for the Land Transport Authority to encourage more people to take the bus. And this is necessary to take some of the passengers from the overcrowded trains. If more people take the bus, the trains will not be over-crowded.

There are many apps that allow people to know which bus to take from A to B. Sometimes, they have to change the bus an an intermediate place to reach the destination. For example, take the bus from A to B and change to another bus to go to C.

The problem is, how does the passenger identify the stop to alight at B and the destination at C?

I have a simple solution, and it is explained in this article.
http://c-onyx.com/page/1772

I have given this solution to the head of bus services in the Land Transport Authority one year ago. No action was taken. I have written to the CEO of the LTA recently. I have not received any acknowledgement yet.

1 comment:

fairplay said...

Mr Tan,
I had the same idea as what you had. First I suggested using serial bus stop numbers. Later on when I observed that the card reader had the Km info, I suggested using the Km data instead. Both these had been feedback to the authorities through REACH but I received no reply at all except for the usual auto acknowledgments. The main difference between my suggestion of using the Km data is that it is already available and is to be displayed on the 'BUS STOPPING' display so that all can see it easily.
I appreciate your many practical suggestions on day to day real-life issues but sad to say, our authorities prefer to keep quiet instead rather than to acknowledge and give credit when due.

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