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

Boon Lay Int

Sometimes I do not know is the govt blind or just refuse to care.

They want to rebuild the Bedok Bus Int into another senseless integrated transport hub.

Right now the Boon Lay Int can't even cope alrdy.

1) 15 buses queueing to enter Boon Lay Int during evening peak hours. Jamming up the entire surrounding. It's made worst with the narrow driveway that further impedes smoother operations.

2) Car park queue into Jurong Pt along Jurong West St 64. Be it cars or delivery trucks jamming up during lunchtime or evening peak hours.

3) Queue for 179A can stretch out of the aircon area in the morning. So called aircon bus interchange.

Ironically one of our dear minister who was posted to SBS in the 1970s could deliver a mega bus interchange back in 1970s, today can seem to deliver. Jurong Int used to house 90 SBS buses, now Boon Lay can't even handle the growing Jurong. I can only say, MOT or MND or whoever is no longer interested in building facilities that can crash load.

Seems SBS can build bus interchanges (before 1990s) better than any 'scholars' in MND or MOT.

Furthermore they can still decide to fine SBS if bus service standard cannot be met when the mess is created by our govt planners.

The bus drivers can't go for their break. Isn't it a safety breach if our govt is so particular like MINDEF in training incidents? Like in this case, they cannot be bothered.

The govt's coffers only increases (the mall the govt benefits - short term in the $300m sale, long term in property tax collection, hence the $60m bill on the new Boon Lay Int is just nonsense, they still gained $240m from the sale overnight), yet the basics cannot be met.

Now another one to be up at Jurong East. Wonder would there be capacity to introduce feeder bus service for Jurong Lake district in the future.

And some govt 'scholars' still saying we can go w/ 7m people. You get what you bargain for.

Revision

Think I'd better keep track on my revision schedule

Current progress

MP2001: Chpt 1 - 4
MP2303: Chpt 1 - 5
MP2006: Chpt 1 & 2
FE0001: Chpt 1 - 12

Wednesday: MP2001 & MP2303. Thursday: MP0001.

Case study for NTU Internal shuttle: Situation at NUS

Looks like I'll need to furnish details at the bus system at NUS. It might not be able to handle the demand at NUS, but the routing and buses used is something that NTU can consider.

Public bus services in NUS's KRC:
1) SBS Sv 95 (Kent Ridge - NUS - NUH - Nth Buona Vista Rd/ Buona Vista MRT Stn - Holland Rd/ Holland V (Loop)):
*SBS cannot dispatch double decks because of the low clearance at Lower Kent Ridge Rd.

2) SBS Sv 96 (Clementi - C'wealth Ave West - Clementi Rd - NUS (Loop)):
This bus links from Clementi Int to NUS (Kent Ridge Crescent, operates inside KRC ONCE plying on the side of NUS Raffles Hall & Computer Ctr).
*fully single decker fleet lineup.

3) SBS Sv 151 (Hougang - Airport Rd - Macpherson Rd - Jln Toa Payoh/ PIE - Bt Timah/ NUS BTC/ King Albert Park - Clementi Rd - NUS - Kent Ridge):
This bus is the only long haul route in campus. It mainly caters for those intending to transfer to other buses at Clementi Rd, Bt Timah or Toa Payoh mostly. There are some who would travel all the way to Hougang.
The bus serves NP & UniSIM - this explains why double decker buses are dispatched to 151.

4) SBS Sv 151e (Peak hour service): Express service of 151, plying the HDB residential areas of Hougang & Toa Payoh along Jln Toa Payoh to Clementi Rd.

5) Kent Ridge Terminal: SBS Sv 10, 33, 95, 151, 151e (PM peak), 200, SMRT Sv 189.

Fringe areas
At Clementi Rd: SBS Sv 33, 183, SMRT Sv 188. At AYE: SBS Sv 97, 197, 198, SMRT Sv 963. At Pasir Panjang Rd: SBS Sv 10, 30, 30e, 51, 143, 183, 200, SMRT Sv 188.

Internal Shuttle Bus
1) Sv A1/ A2: Both runs in either clockwise or anti clockwise direction, similiar to the Green/ White plates used by SBS for Sv 170, 225, 231, 243 to indicate the plying direction.

Sv A1's route, it plies from PGP Residence --> NUH -> Medical Faculty -> Sciences -> SRC -> Yusof Ishak Hse -> Ctrl Lib -> FASS -> SoC -> Biz -> PGP.

A2's route: PGP -> Biz -> SoC -> Temasek & Eusoff Hall(s) -> Opp FASS --> Computer Ctr -> Opp Yusof Ishak Hse --> OED -> SRC -> Sciences -> Opp Medical Faculty -> NUH --> PGP.

--> denotes bus stops skipped in between.

Notice that A2 does not ply at every bus stops in NUS:
a) SDE: The bus stop is too near to the Kent Ridge Crescent/ Kent Ridge Drive junction where the bus turned from. Furthermore this bus stop is quite busy with SBS Svs 95, 96 & 151. The alternative bus stop is either Opp FASS or Computer Ctr.
This could remind people of what I mentioned about the bus stop at Opp WKWSCI back at NTU.
b) NUS Raffles Hall: The bus would bypass this bus stop en-route making a u-turn to OED before proceeding to Lower Kent Ridge Rd. There's an Sv B that covers this bus stop. I believe it's also to prevent confusion.

For both A1 & A2:
a) South Buona Vista Rd/ Science Park I: Stating the obvious, the bus stop is not in the NUS campus boundary.

This route uses the Scania low floor buses I've mentioned in the previous post to improve turnaround time. I'll illustrate how come the turnaround time is critical to the operator and students in the long run later on.

2) Sv B: Eng -> OED -> Yusof Ishak Hse -> Ctrl Lib -> FASS -> SoC -> Temasek/ Eusoff Hall(s) -> Opp FASS --> Computer Ctr -> Opp Yusof Ishak Hse -> Raffles Hall -> Eng

Notice the bus skips the SDE bus stop. This service B acts as to supplement Sv A2 by allowing students at the Temasek & Eusoff Hall(s) to have better boarding chances.

*This is similiar to the Hall 1/ 2/ 6/ 8 issue that I'm referring to during the morning peak hours.

3) Sv C: Eng -> OED -> SRC -> Sciences -> Medical Faculty -> Loop at NUH roundabout -> Medical Faculty -> Sciences -> SRC -> Raffles Hall -> Eng

This service is a supplementary service for those are travelling from Eng to Medical Fac and for those who are intending to head to Lower Kent Ridge Rd after alighting from SBS Sv 151.

4) Sv D: Biz --> Opp FASS --> Computer Ctr -> Opp Yusof Ishak Hse --> Sciences -> Medical Faculty -> Loop at NUH roundabout -> Medical Faculty -> Sciences --> Yusof Ishak Hse -> Ctrl Lib -> FASS --> Biz

This is a semi express acad service. It proceeds to FASS & Ctrl Lib straight after Biz and bypass SoC, Eusoff & Temasek Hall(s) & SRC along Lower Kent Ridge Rd.

Though I've never seen Sv D before, I believe together with Sv C, it's mostly for students who need to travel between faculties. NUS's campus is much bigger than NTU in terms of the location of the faculties i..e they're not close to each other.

Finally, I'll state why students and operators would benefit with a better turnaround time and efficiency. As again, SBS has been doing very well in this. Guess many of us has taken the efficient bus services for granted.

I do admit China made buses are cheap, they cost 1/2 the price of a low floor bus from Europe. Since the low floor buses are able to clear each and every bus stop faster, they ended up being far superior than the China made buses in terms of long term ops cost. I'll state the following relations:

1) With a faster turnaround time, the buses would need lesser time to complete a trip. This generates into possibly saving one bus for the operator for the same ridership. It does not seem big, but figure the long term cost of being able to save the cost of 1 bus, fuel, wages for the driver for the next 15 years of the bus's lifespan.

That said, the European would end up doing more trips on a per bus basis. Henceforth, the fuel cost per bus would be slightly higher.

2) Frequency: With one bus saved, they could either allow the Sv to be more frequent or just simply keep the savings.

3) Maintenance: I believe the China made buses aren't that 'complete' whereby there's after sales maintenance services compared to the European buses. More specifically, maybe I'll touch on the availability of spare parts.

Buses do need their fitting spare parts to work at the best efficiency should they need a overhaul.

This is my estimation:
Usage of 4 China made buses:
1) Cost $175k each ($700k, works out to be $160 per day over 12 years).
2) Wages: i.e. $1800, ~ $240 per day (Just for simplicity, the drivers are allocated to their own buses).
3) Fuel: Not sure about it, but I can estimate to be around $400 per day/ bus?
Total daily cost: ~$2000 range for 4 buses?

Usage of 3 European low floor bus instead.
1) Cost: $350k each ($1050k, works out to be $240 per day over 12 years).
2) Wages: ~$178 per day.
3) Fuel: As the European buses are more fuel efficient (Auto transmission does minus the advantage, but they still win weights as they're able to climb the slopes at NUS & NTU better than the manual transmission China made buses) ~ $415?
Total daily cost: ~$1600 - $1700 range by using 3 buses?

So 'cheaper' China buses turns out not to be tat 'low cost' after all.

So you could figure how come SBS has been able to keep cost low and still able to carry 2.4m of us daily. :)

Finally.. settled down in uni

time flies. It's coming to the sort of 2/3 mark in sem 1 of Uni alrdy.

Think I'll pen down about the internal shuttle bus service in campus - it's terrible!

I do not wish to be nasty, but I think credit be given that at least 1 more bus is deployed to NTU-A, B & C ever since October. But I guess what I'm going to comment is more of a long term issue/ solution.

Firstly, the current situation/ arrangement by SU & SAO is not sustainable in the long run in terms of ops cost vis a vis efficiency. Think I'll list the entire problem with wat's wrong with the shuttle service in campus.

1) No scheduling: Firstly, unlike our public bus company SBS, the internal shuttles does not really enforce a strict regiment on the bus schedule except for the stipulated breaks.

SBS: Schedules are micromanaged into 1) per trip (whereby buses are planned to arrive at selected bus stops at stipulated timings), 2) time belt (generally the travelling time/ run time needed during peak and off peak hours are different due to traffic and loading conditions), 3) per shift (the drver's mealbreak and the entire bus lineup/ freq for the service).

SBS does practice Holiday, Sat, Sun and other special schedules to suit the different loading scenarios. All these are to optimise resources to improve efficiency.

NTU Internal Shuttle: All I can say, nothing mentioned above is practiced. The only thing about the timetable allocated to the drivers only stupulate what time are they driving and what time do they go off for their break.

There's no proper control of how spaced apart the buses should be. That explains why everyone in NTU would see 3x Sv A or C buses together. In any case, both Svs only has 3 buses deployed.

Ironic part was SBS came from the same situation as like in NTU right now before computerisation helped them to plan individual timetables. That's like before 1980 (reading SBS's annual reports dated from 1980 - 1992 found at NTU's Biz lib).

2) Wrong type of buses used: The new shuttle buses are coaches than city buses. Henceforth the ideal passenger loading is to be w/o any standee.

Why so? It's because the aisle are so narrow! The standees has to shift left and right to be able to allow those seating to be able to alight from this bus.

Imagine the bus has to spend more time at each and every bus stop in campus just for this. How inefficient isn't it?

I find it unbelieveable the wider aisle buses are instead dispatched to NTU-D where it's barred to carry standees.

3) Too many bus stops to call: This applies to Sv C in particular. I can't relate why there's a need for a bus stop Opp WKWSCI to be in operation when there's 1 at Hall 7 & Opp SBS?

I admit hall stayers would want buses at the closest boarding pts, but I guess a compromise needs to be made with efficiency.

4) Morning peak loading: I guess the boarding problem in the morning is worst at the Hall 1/ 2/ 6/ 8 cluster. As it's not possible to add on more buses onto Sv A in lieu of the heavy flow of Sv 179/ 179A inside campus, would it be possible to implement short working trips on Sv C?

The short working trip could be operated as a variation of Sv C: Hall 8 > Opp Canteen 2 > Hall 6 > Opp Hall 1 > Opp Hall 4/ 5 > Opp Inno Ctr > SPMS > Hall 7 > Opp SBS > Opp CEE > NIE Blk 2 > Hall 8 in the morning.

In the afternoon, the bus could be operated between NIE Blk 2 > Hall 8 > Opp Canteen 2 > Hall 6 > Opp Hall 1 only to relieve Sv C's load.

There's no rational into making a full loop because Sv C should be empty at Opp Inno Ctr bus stop and furthermore, the problem would likely be Hall 1/ 2/ 6's residents trying to return back to Hall from Nth Spine as there's Sv B for those at Hall 8 - 16.

5) Low floor buses: As I looked at the new low floor Scania buses plying on NUS's internal shuttle bus, I was wondering should the school's bus tender requirement taking into consideration the benefits of using low floor buses?

I understand such buses are more expensive (A low floor bus purchased by SBS cost some $350k), but bear in mind the long term benefits in the bus stop turnaround time, overall travelling time which sadly does not have any 'real' monetary value.

Filming at Canteen 2 bus stop: I still remembered some fellow students trying to take pics of SBS 179 buses not stopping 'properly' at Canteen 2 bus stop.

I find it disturbing because many does not realise how come the bus stop is in such an manner that makes it difficult for the bus drivers to steer (FYI, the double decks on 179 are w/o power steering, can sympathise w/ the bus driver uncle who need to make the turn?).

That bus stop used to be a bus terminal. Henceforth, the design was meant to allow SBS to park 1x Sv 174 (NTI - Bt Batok - Bt Timah - Orchard - Chinatown) bus at the bus bay at any time.

But as Sv 174 ceased to operate from then NTI in 1991, the bus terminal was closed, but the bus bay was never modified and left as it is till today.

Oh well, I've better stop here and head into sleep

NTU Pioneer MRT Shuttle Bus route changes 20/09/10

It's kinda of last minute changes.

In any case, from Mon 20/09/10, the NTU Pioneer shuttle bus will no longer call the following bus stops on Weekdays. There will be no changes to Sat, Sun & PHs routing.

Bus stops to be skipped: ADM, LWN Lib, CEE, SBS, WKWSCI, Hall 7, Innovation Ctr, Hall 4 & Hall 5.

Additional bus stops: Opp Canteen 2, Hall 6, Opp Hall 1 (Basically the YOG route).

The mass mail sent by SU/ SAO is really. It's increasing max capacity per hr and not ridership. lol

不明白为何人人都已现金支付新柔巴士车资

真的不明白为什么这么多人从新山乘搭CW1或者160／170都已现金支付。其实连乘搭CW1支付RM1到克兰芝地铁站都贵过使用“易通卡”（除了乘搭地铁到油池站－这情况十分特别，与旧车资行程及相等的车资有关联）。

如果乘客乘搭CW1黄Bus,在一些行程肯定要支付超过$2新币的车资。

乘搭170在新山使用“易通卡”除了乘搭环线或东北地铁线不必支付$2.

以下是新旧车资相比的结论。

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1HOusI_vJugetJTIgdmdHZMc4JjnX9bJRmUgx_F_HCzw&hl=en

Accountability - What's preached and what's executed

Our dear gabrament has constantly mentioned about responsibility, accountability and integrity.

But seriously I'm personally thinking twice about this after reading some feedback replies. Received a reply from LTA about the public bus driver's driving issue that I feedback some time back in late July due to one freak near accident.

It seems everything about driving is the public bus driver's fault. In reality imo the bus company is the biggest guilty party - the bus schedules are not properly planned where buses could end up being 'late' - resulting in the speeding SMRT buses.

My suspicion is the schedules are planned as if the buses are constantly moving at 60km/hr.

Seems that our highly paid young gabrament scholars do not even understand their job well in creating reliable public transport services. Even SMRT can't understand why their bus operations is in the red (inefficiencies created by themselves, scheduling is one thing). No one knows how to solve the root of the problem though they're so much academically inclined and so talented than normal Singaporeans like myself.

At the end of the day, the bus driver is just doing his/ her job - trying to meet the schedule so as not to cause the bus company to get into trouble with PTC over the Quality of Standard (QoS) regulation over bus schedules.

Reminds me, some of the special needs with regards to distance fare on Sv 160/ 170 (As people has to alight at Woodlands for immigration clearacnce, the normal transfer rules would create problems under 'No transfer to same bus service' rule) has to be resolved by the bus company themselves.

Ironic when LTA is taking over the distance fare, bus service planning, yet special needs has to be resolved by others.

I just do not wish to go on openly as to my belief how the YOG food poisoning occurred because I saw something that ought not to have occured during the official opening ceremony regarding food.

Temasek Review's ignorance: No international newspaper coverage

I think the whole Temasek Review is going ignorant as like it's whacking their claims of the ignorant Singapore government.

http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/08/15/no-news-of-yog-opening-ceremony-in-most-international-papers/

So it's as if a instant newspaper print is made at 0810 New York time, 1310 London time for this? Since they hate wayang so much, so next thing if there's special print, they say the Western world equally wayang?

Yes I helped out in the YOG (By order) without YOG uniform, although I would say I'm angry of how the process went, it neither right to start calling the kettle black.

Distance fare glitches - The problematic ones

It's been 2 weeks since the distance fare has been implemented. Yet the teething problems are yet to be resolved. I'll list all the problems related to the online calculator and the scheme itself.

1) Detour/ flyover/ road diversion distance: It seems the distances tabulated for the respective bus services are based on every inch of distance they travel.

Hence whenever the buses use the flyover (the long turning distance is tabulated instead of the straight right turn), diverted due to MRT works (Bt Timah), detour (Whereby buses has no choice but to do a detour i.e. Sv 154 from Macpherson Rd to Jln Toa Payoh/ PIE towards Boon Lay), commuters are peanlised for the additional distance compared to the fare stage era.

2) Special detour (Sv 155, 961C): These 2 services makes a detour inside Macpherson Estate & Marina Centre (on weekends). In the past, the bus company does not tabulate any net distance travelled so as not to penalise commuters for the detour. The distance fare penalises such commuters for the detour.

3) Sv 160/ 170/ 170X: Right now commuters can't switch between 170X & 170. This block of services was the exempted case whereby commuter could take back the same service all these while between Kranji & JB.

The reason is simple, as the passenger flow is counted by hundreds at any time, any segregation of commuters by the original bus they took i.e. Sv 160, 170, 170X is going to create havoc at Woodlands CIQ. The priority is to clear the passengers as soon as possible (not as slow as possible) to prevent bottlenecks.

To talk abt our Singapore government being highly efficient.

4) Bt Panjang Int/ LRT stop: For some reason, commuters taking Svs like 75 to Bt Panjang Int are penalised for alighting at the actual alighting bay instead of LRT stop (0.1km difference). How could distance be tabulated inside the bus interchange is beyond me.

5) Missing bus stops: It seems Sv 60, 73, 98, 124, 125, 155, 182, 315, 317 has got only one time display of the double calling bus stops in the distance fare calculator.

The bus stops affected are Bedok Reservoir Rd, Jurong Port Rd, Jln Tepong, Fishery Port Rd, Jln Buroh, Jln Bahagia, Merpati Rd, Circuit Rd, Pipit Rd, Mattar Rd, Serangoon Gardens Circus & Tuas Checkpoint.

Seems that this fatal mistake occured as it's confused being a loop service and calling these bus stop twice. I think the programmers are thinking the bus company's info is wrong (They're the ones wrong instead!). Sv 155 indeed calls Macpherson Estate say ITE Macpherson twice en-routre Siglap Rd & Toa Payoh!

There's also an handful of bus services which has omitted bus stops i.e. Sv 43 at Buangkok MRT Station.

6) Bus stop information board display (Same as pointer 5): Transitlink did not provide separated service information for the different directions and expect commuters to deduct the distance themselves.

E.g. Sv 73 from S'goon Gardens Circus to Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, commuters need to deduct their final bus stop from the second S'goon Garden Circus call listed.

I wonder how are commuters going to know there's 2 directions to look out for (so much for the note telling people there's 2 directions. Only 1 direction info so where direction 2?). Last bus information not provided as well.

Worst being Transitlink's feedback reply tell me it's SBST's problem. They've no idea the mistake they made.

Here we go again where problems are thrown here and there!

7) Changi Airport/ Townlink services: This is very funny. Commuters now cannot tabulate their distance beyond Airport PTB 2 or central stop for Townlink services in the online calculator. I fear Sv 24, 34, 36, 291, 293, 358, 359, 911, 912, 913 commuters are charged maximum fare thanks to this glitch!

8) MRT feedering Services: Many commuters are caught unaware of this. Now those trunk services that were ex - feeder services are now charged trunk fares within the new town.

The bus company used to withdraw the duplicating feeder service to optimise resources. So now LTA wants to create wastage by introducing duplicating feeder bus service?

9) Wrongful deduction: Once an aircon bus fare was deducted from me though I was onboard a non aircon bus.

10) Parks Services: It's quite confusing that distance fare is applicable for RWS Svs 188R & 963R yet it's not offering any transfer discount for commuters taking the MRT and x-fer Sv 408/ 409 to Labordor Park/ Mt Faber respectively.

Funny thing being SBS used to offer the same transfer rebate for Parks 408 & 409 as per basic/ express services. I can understand the cease for Premium & Chinatown Direct services as they're already routed to serve the neighbourhood.

11) General distance tabulation: There's pockets of cases where commuters could likely be wrongly charged. 1 example is taking Sv 30 from Boon Lay Way/ Opp Jurong Fire Stn to Boon Lay Int. The distance is 1.1km.

Yet taking Sv 79 or 246 from Opp Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS) along Jln Boon Lay to Boon Lay Int is taken as 2km in distance. But the reality is this bus stop is nearer than the Opp Jurong Fire Stn to Boon Lay Int!

The first problem is more damaging. How could commuters be penalised just because LTA has to divert a stretch of road for MRT works and charge additional distance due to the new road scheme?

The buses simply just follow the diverted route else how it's going to serve the mass?

But I guess it's the first time the government is tabulating the distance, as it's the task of the respective bus companies in the past.

新加坡新巴士与地铁车资 － 160与170号巴士

新加坡新的《以车程计算车资系统》刚刚在拜六实施。刚刚看了新传媒的8频道6：30pm新闻看了乘客的投诉。投诉指的是160和170号巴士从新山到新加坡克兰芝地铁站的车资从9角／1元2角提高到1元2角半／1元4角（前者为新山市区，后者为拉庆终站）。

其实那些在新加坡三所大学或者是在裕廊工作的大马人，反而省下1新币的车费！

本人拿一个比例。从新山市区到南洋理工大学(NTU) North Spine。

以前：（从拉庆）$1.21 (170车程）＋ $1.53 （地铁车程至文礼）＋ $0.91 （179号巴士前往南大）－ $1 （转车回扣）: $2.65.

新的计算方式：$1.41 （170车程）＋ $0.43 （地铁车程至文礼）＋ $0.04（179号巴士前往南大）: $1.88。省下7角7分！　（回程是$1.91)。

如果是从新山市区将是从原本的$2.35降低至$1.84。回程是$1.89。省下5角1分！

简单的说，现在如果我乘搭170巴士5公里，转搭地铁10公里，车资是以地铁15公里的行程计算。

计算新的车资的网址：http://www.publictransport.sg/publish/ptp/en/distancefare.html。

反观现在乘搭黄巴CW1付现钱不划算。RM1.40（新币5角7分） （车票）＋ $1.53 (地铁车程至文礼）＋　$0.17 (179号巴士前往南大）: $2.30车资！回程更不用说。

但是那些乘搭170直达兀兰路或转搭925号巴士前往工作地点的乘客将得多支付3角至4角的车资。

希望现在那些在新加坡就读或者是做工的大马人应该会了解了吧。

兴建新的新马大桥及降低过路费？大马人误解的情况。

最近在报章上读到许多有关兴建新的新柔长堤以及降低大士第二通道过路费的新闻和在大马媒体的评论，本人其实感到困扰。因为大马人忘了两国的国情以及事件处理方式都不一样。

先谈降低大士第二通道过路费30％的事件。新加坡政府当年是以自投自保养维修的情况下与大马政府兴建的。这有别于大马把大道维修保养的责任“外包”给南北大道的子公司。所以在决定降低过路费时，有自主的决定。反而大马政府可能得要赔偿大道公司。

另一方面，本人感觉到用意是鼓励卡车使用大士关卡以舒缓兀兰路被大马卡车严重堵塞的情况（车龙可以长达5公里！）。这严重的影响新加坡公共巴士在下午繁忙时段的运作，也害得在兀兰路乘搭巴士的乘客被迫在卡车和右边车道“夹住”的情况下的等巴士。

这也让我意识到为何大马政府无法快速的建造地铁　－　路税太便宜了！新加坡政府有能力资负兴建地铁线，新的大道及维修道路，新的冷气巴士转换站是因为有的实施昂贵的拥车证，路税以及每公升新币30分的汽油税。

新的新柔长堤对我而言是没有什么好期待的，因为新的新山关卡太狭窄了（连从兀兰前往新山方向没有设立专利的巴士专用道）。

第二，实际上柔佛海峡太狭窄了！新一代的大型轮船是没有办法使用柔佛海峡。也可别忘了在新加坡西部是实弹演习场，船只是不能进入。

在提升大马柔佛海港的竞争力时，大马人忘了连最近台湾长荣集团在新加坡设立船东公司。新加坡政府的策略是吸引国际船务公司不止用新加坡的货柜港，也鼓励该公司将船队登记使用新加坡籍旗，在新加坡设立区域总部，使用新加坡的运输，货舱，金融等等的相关服务。这是俗称的Approved International Scheme. 相关资料：http://www.mpa.gov.sg/sites/business_and_enterprise/expanding_your_business_operations/growing_your_business_through_approved_schemes/approved_interational_shipping_enterprise(ais)_scheme.page

意图是要把新加坡建立成国际船运中心。大马还没做到。

想起当年的港口之争，今天新加坡港还成为世界第一货柜吞口量的港。连当年给予长荣航空在吉隆坡机场的优惠都保不了将被削减航班的厄运。

长荣航空将在今年八月起，削减从每星期6班台北飞往吉隆坡的服务削减成每星期3班。反而来往台北以及新加坡的服务将从每星期5班增加到每天一班。连将提升使用波音B-777客机 （可以说是首创　－　第一个在欧美及日本航班以外以完全使用定型B-777型客机的长荣航线）。

始终长堤两岸的国情还是不一样。

'by right', 'by left'

Hate it to say this about young Singaporeans these days - trying to squeeze their way through the system.

It's something I would not mention openly in a blog but they hate the 'by right' rule.

I think many people simply refuse to listen or refuse to believe - if there's 1000x of the same character people trying to do 'by left', wouldn't people like the government be very busy to entertain all these?

Simply they would ban all the 'by left' things though no doubt there are special occasions flexibility has to be exercised like the recent case on the newspaper over a mum breastfeeding her kid onboard the MRT train (It's better than the baby crying and disturbing other passengers onboard the same MRT train right?).

In any case not that I wish to criticise, sometimes the more people insist on the 'by left' things, the more trouble they end up into - serious.

Cross Border Bus Svs - PSV license

I'm referrring to the S$25 PSV license Malaysian (and a small number of Thai registered coaches) coaches has to pay in order to be allowed to enter Singapore.

This includes the Malaysian Yellow public bus that plies in particularly between Kranji & JB (CW1) and Queen St & JB (CW2).

They're competing with SBS and SJE respectively (not to mention the subsidised diesel and so on) yet they SBS & SJE are made to pay $1100 PSV road tax a year instead.

I received an reply from MOT saying that it cannot be compared as the Malaysian buses are only allowed to stop at 'designated' locations in Singapore.

Yeah, that means our SJE in particular should be paying S$25 road tax instead as well since the CW2's 'designated' location is the same as SJE.

I think SJE should consider relocating the business to register at JB instead since there's this loophole. Everything is still lower cost in Malaysia.

Our Singapore government has well forgotten how humiliated they were when Maersk & Evergreen left PSA thanks to it's stubborn stance over shipping rates (rates was only lowered when other lines threatened to follow suit). Needless to mention the head of PSA then was an ex - defence minister back in the 1990s who said "We do not compete with prices.".

I think they deserve to taste it one more time to realise their policy need to evolve around Singaporeans and not expecting Singaporeans evolve around it. It's not as if there's loopholes around.

Instead of collecting less, people relocate elsewhere and forget about collecting taxes and Singaporeans being employed.

Needless to mention they still believe the cramped New Boon Lay Bus Int is mindful of commuters needs. So who takes public transport daily? Those scholars who rarely take public transportation or the thousands of ordinary Singaporeans and bus drivers whose breaks are forfeited who have to face this?

YOG special lane

The hyperlink shown below is for those who still do not know what is going on about the special YOG vehicular lane that would be implemented on most of the expressways and some designated main roads:

http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20100618-222837.html

My 2 cents thought of this issue:
1) How are the YOG buses going to be moving on the 2nd most left lane or rather the middle lane of most of the expressways when the legal speed limit for buses is 60km/hr? Isn't it going to be road hogging impeding smooth expressway flow instead?

2) So if the car did not look out for the YOG official cars, would the cars end up filter out to the right lane? In any case would they travel beyond the speed limit and/ or be above the actual traffic flow (raining, accidents, events en-route e.g. fallen tree)?

3) Can't they leave the venues i.e. hotels or NTU YOG village earlier?

4) Can't other arrangement be made instead? I.e. adjust school hours, SGX trading hours, govt office operational hours? This also has implications onto our public buses and MRT peak hour scheduling as well.

Is the scholars inside the civil service expect everyone to evolve around the YOG? Or is it because they now realised it would greatly the smooth ops of the finanicial & banking sector?

I'm waiting for road traffic accidents to occur as vehicles filter out to the right or left lane out of desperation to avoid getting the fine. Probably a 10 - 20 car piling accident would occur when one of the cars is unable to brake in time to let the filtering car in. By then the YOG games would be affected thanks to the massive jam. Soon Singapore would become a joke of the world again after the Orchard Road flash flood on Wednesday 16/06/2010.

Near accident onboard buses - thanks to car drivers!

Actually I didn't want to pen down my thoughts on this matter.

But I'd ever encountered two near accidents, 1) at congested PIE when the SBS bus I was on was attempting to filter to the middle lane), 2) at CJC along Whitley Rd when the SBS buses are trying to filter to the bus stop as the left lane is clogged by parents queueing to drop off their kids inside the school compound.

In this 2 scenario, I could have tripped and fall thanks to heartless parents/ car drivers. Not only that,

In the PIE incident the car driver just immediately sped up noticing the bus was filtering. I could have tripped and hit a grab pole all thanks to him. Yet he thinks he's right by making a rude gesture to the bus driver. For trying to fight to be first (the ego), we commuters (especially the standing ones) suffer.

In the CJC incident, no one wants to give way to the buses. It's as if other than their precious gems, everyone else does not need to get to school, to work on time. No one bothered to give way to the buses to enter and exit the bus stop bay at CJC even though the left lane they're on being congested (the buses could still filter to the right to proceed to PIE).

In any case I think MOE should ban parents from dropping off their kids inside the school compound. It does nothing but to only delay bus service operations. The buses are already very packed thanks to the 'good' initiative to start school later at 8am, clashing with people heading to work.

Yet at the same time, the same government is trying to encourage Singaporeans to take public transport.

In any case, I'm a driver myself just happened to commute to work and play more via public transport.

Kranji MRT Station bus stop mess

For many Singaporeans rarely takes public transport to JB, the Kranji MRT Station is the main gateway for people to cross the border with SBS Sv 160, 170 (Red plate), 170 (Blue plate) & CW1.

In any case the cheapest (After transfer rebate the fare payable is 41c), busiest and most frequent service is the SBS Sv 170 (blue plate), boarding point being the bus stop outside Kranji Stn.

The CW1 service is the most expensive to board at Kranji with $1.30 cash fare payable onboard. CEPAS cards are not accepted being a Malaysian bus.

On Fridays, the queue can be ultra long because many Malaysians working in Singapore would head back home to enjoy the typical weekend. The queue can be long due to two main reasons: passenger load and jam at Causeway.

The lorry jam that regularly occurs on Fridays creates more problem. As many lorry drivers does not leave a gap at the bus stop, passengers are forced to board/ alight beside the lorries along the road rendering the bus stop bay useless. This applies to those who boards Sv 160 & 170 (Red plate) to JB at the bus stop Opp Kranji Stn.

These passengers have to brave though being bulldozed by the lorries as they take no regard for human traffic (It's typical in Malaysia).

Actually this hazard to commuters isn't just isolated to Kranji MRT Station. The bus stops along Woodlands Rd (From Yew Tee onwards) are blocked by the formed up lorries. Commuters has to brave standing on the road and the lorries to wait for their buses.

Even the left turning facility to Kranji Rd at the Kranji Rd/ Turf Club Ave/ Woodlands Rd junction is blocked.

Then comes the security issue. Many commuters boarding at the Opp Kranji Stn bus stop refuse to queue in an orderly manner (possibly human mentality of wanting to board the early bus to get home). Then comes commuters pushing each other. I wonder has any commuter suffered being pickpocketed before.

I ever saw a group of them boarding the bus from the exit door and evaded payment. It's a chaos.

To me, such mess an security hazard towards public transport facilities.

I think this Kranji MRT station bus stop is the most outcast public transport facility in the entire Singapore in terms of orderly.

SMRT train vandalism & Singpost letter box.

I believe the MRT train vandalism case is in the minds of every Singaporean right now - be it over security lapses or the vandalism act itself.

Suddenly I'm reminded of the SingPost letterbox incident (graffiti for the YOG) some time back. Could the staff have taken the graffiti as an advertisement with the letterbox incident? No one would ever know though.

But the security lapses is the real killer. What if a bomb was planted or sabotaging acts was conducted instead? It might have destroyed the lives and aspirations of many people.

Hopefully a precise review would be made. There's no place for complacency over security issues to surface. Period.