Thanks Mr J K

mmm.. Sv 170 is pretty regular as I noticed while waiting for my connecting bus at Bt Timah this evening 04/03/11. Thanks Mr J K!

Come to think of it, there seems to be possibly a way to get 170X buses to arrive JB or Kranji more uniformly - using stipulated turnaround time over at the CIQ side (Making an SOP).

I've noticed at times it can be some 12 mins that there isn't any 170X bus at Kranji before 3x 170X buses would arrive together while there's a long queue for 170X at Kranji and the Opp Kranji Stn for 160 & 170.

I do hope some changes could be made as in timekeeper/ dispatcher dispatches the bus off from the CIQ after 2 - 3 mins, packed or not packed. It's better because should there be any 160 or 170 bus behind, they would not get stucked.

Just my 2 cent thoughts.

NightRider service overhaul: Part 1B

I'll now cover the CBD - New Town leg.

Basically I'm suggesting splitting up the buses to commence from 3 sectors depending on their ending destination.

Queen St Terminal for the Westbound, Marina Centre Terminal for Northbound & New Bridge Road Terminal for the Eastbound buses.

Express sectors will be indicated in Italics. One notable exception is the Night bus service will not ply extensively in Bt Merah New Town.

Westbound Services
W1: Queen St - Clementi New Town
Via: Queen St > North Bridge Rd > South Bridge Rd > Kreta Ayer Rd > New Bridge Rd > Catonment Rd > Keppel Rd > AYE > Lower Delta Rd > Tiong Bahru Rd> Alexandra Rd > Queensway > C'wealth Ave > Nth Buona Vista Rd > Dover Rd > Clementi Rd > Clementi Ave 5 > Clementi Ave 3 > Clementi Ave 2 > Clementi West St 2 > West Coast Rd > Clementi Ave 2 > C'wealth Ave West > Clementi Rd > Dover Rd >> (Plies back same route from Dover Rd) Queen St Ops: 0030 - 0400. Freq: 25 mins.

W2: Queen St - Pandan Gardens/ Jurong East N3/ West N4/ N5/ Boon Lay Gardens
Via: Queen St > North Bridge Rd > South Bridge Rd > Kreta Ayer Rd > New Bridge Rd > Cantonment Rd > Keppel Rd > AYE > Clementi Rd > Pasir Panjang Rd > West Coast Highway > West Coast Rd > Pandan Gardens > Teban Gardens > Jurong Town Hall Rd > Jurong East Ave 1 > Jurong West Ave 1 > Boon Lay Ave > Boon Lay Dr > Boon Lay Pl > Boon Lay Ave (Loop)

Freq: 20 mins.

W3: Queen St - Taman Jurong/ Jurong West N6/ N8/ N9
Via: Queen St > North Bridge Rd > South Bridge Rd > Neil Rd > Cantonment Rd > Keppel Rd > AYE > Corporation Rd > Yung Ho Rd > Corporation Dr > Kang Ching Rd > Yuan Ching Rd > Boon Lay Way > Jurong West St 64 > Jurong West St 75 > Jurong West St 82 > Jurong West St 81 > Jurong West Ave 5 > Jurong West St 91 > Jurong West St 92 (Loop).
Freq: 20 mins.
*Jurong West N2A, N6, N7 will be linked up by NT3.

W4: Queen St - Bt Batok/ Bt Gombak
Via: Queen St > North Bridge Rd > South Bridge Rd > Neil Rd > Catonment Rd > Keppel Rd > AYE > Clementi Ave 6 > C'wealth Ave West (Nan Hua Pri Sch) > Boon Lay Way > Toh Guan Rd > Jurong East Ave 1 > Jurong Town Hall Rd > Bt Batok Rd > Bt Batok West Ave 3 > Bt Batok West Ave 8 > Bt Batok West Ave 6 > Bt Batok West Ave 2 > Bt Batok West Ave 4 > Bt Batok West Ave 7 > Bt Batok West Ave 5 > Bt Batok West Ave 2 (Loop).
Freq: 20 mins.

To be con't

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