Oh boy you are so wrong.
Firstly, it is untrue congestion mecessarily means buses will
lose to rail. In the first place, jams are caused due to the
unattractivensss of PT, obv caused by little alternatives and total
reliance on rail. Indeed, it
is true buses will slow down, but you see, often these jams occur
during peak hours. Trains often become sardine cans and the time taken to walk
(transfer) and wait offsets the time you claimed you will
save.
Punggol - CCK DEFINITELY will have demand. Pls la, you are
connecting a satellite town with a future Meteopolis Of The 21st
Century. Plus, it certainly wont be confined to these two towns. It
could pass by Sengkang, BPJ etc. along the way.
I have suggested an Express 503 on the Route Suggestions thread.
Dont tell me THAT doesnt have demand.
Regarding fleet size you rly need to check yourself before you
wreck yourself. Not only does highway svcs not consume more buses,
they use LESS. Reason is simple: when travelling time shortens
fleet size proportionally decreases. 9 buses could sustain a 15-min
headway for svcs like 161, 118. The same could not be said for long
trunks like 51, 147. You can argue with me with svcs like 27, 966.
These are the svcs u have mentioned: successful beyond initial
capacity, hence the massive fleet adds. iirc 966 didnt start off
with many buses too.
You are worried about sustainability. I tell you not to, look at
the people now. Time is gold. Increasing requests for direct bus
connections. Hence 117, 118. I hope there will be more to
come.
Firstly, I am not LTA. I appreciate your passion
though.
Cause of jams are debatable. Sometimes they are caused by the
influx of heavy vehicles like on the AYE. However, I agree that
public transport is still not an attractive means for some people
who commute very long distances. Unfortunately, our planners did
not have the foresight for express MRT services like in NYC or
Tokyo. CRL will change things. Some still drive because our trains
are very crowded. Again, poor planning on LTA's part. But in the
East & North, DTL & TEL will hopefully relieve the crowding
on EWL/NSL. CDS is a good response.
Sometimes it is just down to status consciousness among
Singaporeans.
Have you traveled on AYE/PIE or CTE during peak hours? I used to
commute daily between Kent Ridge and the East. Hands down train was
fastest. So what if it's jam free off-peak. Our trains are emptier
off-peak as well.
161 & 118 can work because TPE is still quite jam free.
Please check fleet deployments for other services and reliability
as well. 506 can be really bad.
Right now Punggol is still largely residential. URA's masterplan
sets a 10-15 year timeline and with the state of the economy it may
slow down. By then you will have CRL. If not an express service of
some sort could be implemented once SIT is built. CCK will have
Jurong Lake District first anyway. This can be reached by a
combination of EWL & NEL. Right now, you are linking 2 satelite estates
that are very far apart where amenities are largely duplicated in
both regions.