NightRider service overhaul thoughts - Part I

I've begin to receive quite a lot of complains over the NightRider service. The common complains turns out to be erratic headways and crowded buses.

I'll reserve my thoughts over the scheduling problem cropping the entire SMRT mgmt by taking a look at the routing/ network coverage.

I'll split the suggestion into 2 parts. CBD area for Part I and New Towns for Part II

Part I
Introduction
Singapore has seen more leisure spots in lieu of the commencement of the two integrated resorts in Sentosa & Marina Bay. Furthermore, areas such as HarbourFront houses night spots such as St James Power Station. Henceforth, the demand for the Night buses' network coverage has increased over the years.

However the method used by current operators is just to extend some of the buses and maintaining at the usual 22 mins headways. It turns out passengers downstream often are deprived of a boarding opportunity.

Overhauled network
I'll like to suggest two phases of rationalisation within the CBD area.
1) Intra Town bridging services.
Four (4) bridging bus services would be provided to allow commuters to hop onto a bus and proceed to the nearest bus stops (i.e. along main aterial roads) for the bus services to the New Towns.

Fare structure: Fare will be capped at $3.60 should commuters travel in bet the City Shuttle, Main/ Trunk & New Town feeder within 2.5 hours.

The three services are as follows

• SN1 (Shuttle Nite): RWS - Tomilison Road (Loop): RWS > Telok Blangah Rd/ Opp VivoCity > Keppel Rd/ KTM Station > Bayfront Ave/ MBS > Raffles Ave/ Floating Platform & Esplanade Theatres by the Bay > Stamford Rd/ Capitol & SMU > Orchard Rd corridor (For quicker turnaround, it'll ply Youth Park & Orchard Blvd instead of Orchard Turn) > Bras Basah Rd/ NTUC Income & Raffles Hotel > Temasek Blvd/ Suntec SICC > Temasek Ave/ Opp Millennia Twr > Bayfront Ave/ MBS Hotel Twr > Keppel Rd/ Opp KTM Station > Telok Blangah Rd/ VivoCity > RWS.
• SN2: Queen St - HarbourFront (Loop): Queen St > Victoria St/ Bugis > North Bridge Rd/ City Hall > South Bridge Rd/ Boat Quay & Opp Chinatown > Tg Pagar Rd > Keppel Rd/ Opp KTM Station > Telok Blangah Rd/ VivoCity (Loop).
• SN3: Queen St - MBS (Loop): Queen St > Ophir Rd > Beach Road > Esplanade Dr > Central Blvd > Bayfront Ave/ MBS > Temasek Ave/ Millennia Twr > Temasek Blvd > Rochor Rd > Weld Rd (Express) > Jln Besar > Queen St.
• SN4: New Bridge Road - Mohd Sultan - City Hall (Loop): Outram Rd > Chin Swee Rd > Havlock Rd > Martin Rd > Mohd Sultan Rd > River Valley Rd > Hill St > Middle Rd (Access Rd) > North Bridge Rd > North Boat Quay > River Valley Rd > Mohd Sultan Rd > Martin Rd > Havelock Rd > Chin Swee Rd > Outram Rd

Frequency: 12 - 20 mins per bus. 1st bus: 0000. Last bus: 0300. Fare: $1.80