Bus services originating at BPJ Interchange
75, 176, 184, 920, 922, 970, 973, 975, 979/M (09 services)
Bus services originating at BPJ Bus Park
700 (if it still exists), 972 (02 services)
* Reason is lot of people board 972 at bus stop along
BPJ Road who transfer from 960 (Woodlands Road), 176/963/970
(Hillview), 190 (CCK). If 972 starts from BPJ Interchange,
this connection will be lost + 972 itself will need many parking
lots that BPJ Interchange will not be able to accommodate.
Bus services looping at Jelubu
171 (assuming it is cut short), 177, 180, 983
Your first reasoning as to why 972 would originate from the bus
park doesn't makes much sense for reasons I would give below.
I was initially confused as to which bus stop along Bukit
Panjang Road you are referring to until I viewed it in context;
it's the one at opposite Block 183. True enough, making 972 starts
from the ITH would cause that bus stop to be skipped because it's
the same as how 920 and 922 goes before it was closed. However,
with regards to some of the services you mentioned that they
transferred from (leaving aside 176 and 970 since they plied from
Hillview in the same manner as 963), in some cases I have
highlighted below, they could have simply transferred from the bus
stop at Block 270 along the same road instead if 972 is amended to
the ITH.
I was dumbfounded as to why there can be foolish passengers (I
could not think of a better word than 'foolish') who chose to
transfer from the three bus services at the Opp Block 183 bus stop
and go around loops within the estates served by the LRT before
reaching destinations beyond Block 270, which is far much longer
than the route taken by 190 or 960/963 between the two bus stops
along Bukit Panjang Road. Of course, some of them could have been
the residents served by the LRT (for CCK people, they could have
stayed on 190 if they are going to Orchard); it may be based on
your data and I do not have the benefit of reading them so I
wouldn't comment on its accuracy, but from a practical perspective,
the reasoning sounds strange to me.