Three more City Direct bus services on the way

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Three more City Direct bus services on the way
Christopher Tan | The Straits Times | Thursday, May 15, 2014

Three new City Direct bus services will begin operations in the next few weeks to serve residents in Eunos, Bedok and Hougang.

Running more or less parallel to MRT routes, they join 11 others rolled out since late 2012 to alleviate crowding on trains during weekday peak periods.
The Land Transport Authority said about 10 more such services are in the pipeline.

Eunos City Direct Service (CDS) 658 will start on May 19. It will ply Bedok Reservoir Road, Kaki Bukit Avenue 1, Jalan Damai and Jalan Eunos before taking the Pan-Island Expressway and East Coast Parkway (ECP) to get to the Central Business District (CBD). On weekday evenings, the service will take commuters from Anson Road, Robinson Road and Marina Boulevard back to Eunos.

Bedok CDS 659 will start on June 9. It will travel from Bedok South Road and cover Bedok South Avenue 3, New Upper Changi Road, Bedok North Road, Bedok North Avenue 2 and Bedok North Street 3 before heading towards Central Boulevard and Shenton Way via PIE and ECP.

Similarly, it will bring commuters back to the Bedok housing estates on weekday evenings.

Hougang CDS 660 will start on June 23. It will ply Buangkok Green, Hougang Street 91, Hougang Avenue 4 and Avenue 8 towards Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 before heading to the CBD via the Central Expressway during the morning peak.

The three new services will be operated by Aedge Holdings, as part of the state-funded billion- dollar Bus Service Enhancement Programme to relieve crowding on MRT trains before new rail lines come onstream.

Of the 14 bus services that run parallel to MRT lines, four are operated by the two main public transport operators, while 10 are operated by private operators.

The move to beef up bus services along MRT routes contrasts with the "bus rationalisation exercises" of the 1990s and early 2000s.

From 1991 to 1994, some 140 bus services were either scrapped or altered to avoid duplicating the MRT system.

In 2003, at least a dozen routes were scrapped when the North East Line opened, upsetting thousands of Hougang and Serangoon residents. Besides SBS Transit and SMRT services, supplementary Scheme B buses - run by private operators - were also "rationalised".

This article was published on May 13 in The Straits Times.

- See more at: http://transport.asiaone.com/news/general/story/three-more-city-direct-bus-services-way#sthash.SlpIMUYi.dpuf

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Why Public Transport is Privatised: Minister Lui Tuck Yew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD2zW5muoyc

[azeoprop]

More of a monopoly cum duopoly now than a competitive open market. There is no similar cost alternative product for consumers to choose. :scared-3:

[irisng]

No wonder East side ppty are more expensive than West side.:rolleyes:

Previously I did mention that I wanted to share my experience with our local bus transport system but when I clicked on the submit button, an error message appeared, so I was thinking, never mind, forget it. Now since the topic is on bus services, maybe I can share it here.

On 7th May (Wed), at about 9.30am, I was waiting at the bus stop for my bus (to work). Most of the time in the morning, I followed my spouse's car, so that day was really "AN EYE OPEN" for me.

Bus 966 - While I was at the bus-stop, the 1st bus that I saw was Bus No. 966 (to Marine Parade). At first, I didn't take notice of it but later it caught my attention, one after another one (within seconds), so I started counting, guess how many I had counted:D, 13 BUS NO 966 within 20 mins and worst is practically all the buses are almost empty. Some drivers (Bus No 966) even skipped to stop at the bus-stop because there were about 2 or 3 same buses stopping at the same bus stop.:doh:

Bus 963 (to Vivocity) - 4 buses within 20 mins and also quite empty.

Bus 190 (to Orchard) - suppose to have many services but don't know why, that day was an extreme. Still not so bad, within 25 mins, there were 3 buses but all fully packed, some even stand at the doorway and some have to wait for another bus.

Bus 960 (to Bugis) - within 25 mins, only saw 1 bus. Driver cannot open the door because it was fully packed with people standing at the doorway, no extra space to take in any more passengers. I even heard a lady (at the bust-stop) said, no matter how, must squeeze in, if not she would be late for work.

I was wondering, how the LTA arrange the timing for the bus sevices? So many people waiting for the bus and yet it took more than 20 mins to arrive while nobody wait for the buses and yet every second, there is a bus.:sleep:

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No wonder East side ppty are more expensive than West side.:rolleyes:

Previously I did mention that I wanted to share my experience with our local bus transport system but when I clicked on the submit button, an error message appeared, so I was thinking, never mind, forget it. Now since the topic is on bus services, maybe I can share it here.

On 7th May (Wed), at about 9.30am, I was waiting at the bus stop for my bus (to work). Most of the time in the morning, I followed my spouse's car, so that day was really "AN EYE OPEN" for me.

Bus 966 - While I was at the bus-stop, the 1st bus that I saw was Bus No. 966 (to Marine Parade). At first, I didn't take notice of it but later it caught my attention, one after another one (within seconds), so I started counting, guess how many I had counted:D, 13 BUS NO 966 within 20 mins and worst is practically all the buses are almost empty. Some drivers (Bus No 966) even skipped to stop at the bus-stop because there were about 2 or 3 same buses stopping at the same bus stop.:doh:

Bus 963 (to Vivocity) - 4 buses within 20 mins and also quite empty.

Bus 190 (to Orchard) - suppose to have many services but don't know why, that day was an extreme. Still not so bad, within 25 mins, there were 3 buses but all fully packed, some even stand at the doorway and some have to wait for another bus.

Bus 960 (to Bugis) - within 25 mins, only saw 1 bus. Driver cannot open the door because it was fully packed with people standing at the doorway, no extra space to take in any more passengers. I even heard a lady (at the bust-stop) said, no matter how, must squeeze in, if not she would be late for work.

I was wondering, how the LTA arrange the timing for the bus sevices? So many people waiting for the bus and yet it took more than 20 mins to arrive while nobody wait for the buses and yet every second, there is a bus.:sleep:

Even if you drive, it is hard to be punctual. The roads are too congested and passenger load is too high. But how the bus services lose $ despite duopoly and billion$ injection is a mystery.

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More of a monopoly cum duopoly now than a competitive open market. There is no similar cost alternative product for consumers to choose. :scared-3:

The way LTA is trying to alleviate the bus services issue by hands-on each tender without creating too much competition to the incumbents is very painful. The transport companies should be managed directly by a government agency.

[azeoprop]

How they deploy their buses on routes one? :doh:
Increase number of buses and all deploy on useless 966 routes, how efficient can this get. :scared-5:

[irisng]

Even if you drive, it is hard to be punctual. The roads are too congested and passenger load is too high. But how the bus services lose $ despite duopoly and billion$ injection is a mystery.

Unlike MRT, bus services timing is very unpredictable due to the road condition. But not to the point that 13 same number of buses arrived one after another leh, some of them was almost empty with less than 5 passengers.

[irisng]

I ever come across 2 or 3 buses arriving at the same time, that's acceptable but those people who arrived after these 3 buses will have to wait longer time lor.

Maybe this bus-stop is the last stop before the BKE, that's why it was always fully packed for certain buses, like 190 & 960. From what I know for this bus-stop, there is only 1 bus to 1 destination, no other alternative buses, maybe LTA should improve on this type of services, not only on this bus-stop but on other bus-stops as well.

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Unlike MRT, bus services timing is very unpredictable due to the road condition. But not to the point that 13 same number of buses arrived one after another leh, some of them was almost empty with less than 5 passengers.

Tax payers (free) money. What to expect :rolleyes: