Bro - 47 is doing quite okay with DDs. You should see the
loading during AM towards CBP and PM from CBP. The buses can easily
get 80-100 pax, and many times the SD will be in "red". Of course
Marine Parade area is too spoilt with too many services and they
need to do some rationalization there.
16, 31, 196, 197 all doing MP - Bedok
12, 38, 47 - too many services for Bedok South to Tanah
Merah.
But if you just see the load between CBP onwards there is high
demand.
The service which has DDs and totally does not need it
is sv 46.
They can wait until DTL3 to open, witness the loading and then
deploy. Talking about excess and waste of resources, I want to
highlight that the biggest waste is on feeder/intra-town services
where SDs are spammed as if they cost nothing. Whether you take
911, 912, 913 or 222, 291, 293 same story. This is the biggest
wastage. And this is LTA decision.
Which was why I suggested the use of SWT, since 47 DDs run with
its top deck practically empty past TM!!! Besides, SWT being routes
operated during peak also means that DDs need not be used when CBP
itself also does not have demand, i.e. off peak and weekends/PH. It
also ensures faster turnaround time, hence better reliability.
As for 46, oh boy I didnt even see the need for this svc, let
alone it using DDs. This svc has the potential to extend further,
yet LTA just stopped it in the east. No MRT stations along the way,
no heavy loading sectors.