Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Long distance bus routes

Monday, April 26, 2010

Long distance bus routes

Here is the reply from the Government about the change to the long distance bus routes.
http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_519120.html

My comments
I prefer a system of express buses that operate from one interchange to another. It can travel a long distance and have a few stops. Commuters can take the feeder bus to catch the express bus at the interchanges and the limited express stops. The travelling time will be reduced. Although the commuter has to make some transfer, it is good exercise and is similar to transfers to catch the train.

4 comments:

SD said...: However, express bus often have very long waiting time.; April 26, 2010 4:41 PM
Anonymous said...: SBS 506 is a bus running from Jurong East to somewhere in Tanah Merah. It runs a part of its journey on PIE, makes fewer stops and thus considered as an express bus service.
When it is stuck in the jam along PIE, it is no longer express and passengers would be better off to take MRT from west to east.; April 26, 2010 4:43 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: Reply to Hiei

Under the express bus system that I have in mind, they should run at fixed times. The travelling time is shorter as they do not need to pick up passengers along the route (except for a few express stops). They should also provide seats for all passengers, like the express bus that you take to Malaysia.

We have to think of express bus in a different context from what is currently being practised.; April 26, 2010 5:05 PM
Bryan Ti said...: I wrote the following when Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Transport, was quoted as saying that all 'cross-country' bus services will be up for review.
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The review was supposedly to see whether the longer services can be sustained because of the “strong correlation between the lack of reliability in bus arrival timings and the length of the bus route.”

Instead of solving the problem with bus frequency and regularity, she wants to “review away” the problem.

Yes, Singapore is a country, but she conveniently forgets that it is also a so-called city-state. Saying that buses have to travel “cross-country” is technically correct (actually it should be "across the country"). But it is also a mischievous play of words - Singapore is only a measly 50km lengthwise. It's not as if the buses go inter-state.

The 'hub and spoke' system she mentioned will mean that three-staged commutes will become the norm : bus-MRT-bus. The convenience of the commuters is being traded for the cost-efficiency of the transportation companies.

That is what she means when she says that “modifications would result in commuters having to make changes to their travel patterns”.

It baffles me that these transport operators and statutory boards CAN'T figure out a cost-effective way to provide a decent transport system to a country as demographically compact as Singapore.; April 26, 2010 11:04 PM