Service 52 Amendment:
- Amended to Bt Timah Rd / Dunearn Rd (EXPRESS) and Adam Rd
- Skip bus stops around Bukit Timah Plaza
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zvASY1AjT64M.k_r7iY2P28LM&usp=sharing
Rationale:
- Very often, there's terrible congestion at PIE Adam Rd
exit especially towards Bishan
- Ply express along Dunearn Rd where traffic is often
smoother
Cons:
- Loss of direct link to Bukit Timah Plaza for Toh Guan / Jurong
East residents (compensated by 41)
I have to admit that I only took 52 along this sector once
towards Bishan, but every time I pass by Adam Rd there is a jam.
Any feedbacks are welcome.
(Alternatively, 52 can use the new road between Adam Flyover and
MacRitchie once it opens)
Leaving sv41 as the only link between Jurong East and Upp Bt
Timah Rd/Jln Anak Bt is not really the issue here. There's also
sv66 by the way.
As an ex-NP student, you need to realize that many students like
me use the opp Bt Timah Plaza stop along Jln Anak Bt as an exchange
point to transfer to sv52/61/75/184 to get to school. During the
morning peak hours, sv61/75/184 are often packed to the door,
resulting in the buses rejecting many pax. sv61 DDs happen not to
show up at that time period, thus most of the sv61 buses that
arrive at that timing are A22s, while sv75 operates full fleet
A22s, which are obviously packed to the door as well. Even though
sv184 has a majority fleet of articulated buses, even the
articulated buses are also packed to the door. Therefore, sv52
appears to be the only "hope" to be able to get onto the bus, even
if it's an SD (the SD may arrive packed but there's still room for
boarding) If it's a DD, even better, given that there's ample of
space to board.
While you may argue that the students can just walk (more of a
choice for NP students and not really a choice for SIM students
given that their campus is slightly further away) to school or the
BCs should attempt to at least ask the pax on the packed buses of
sv61/75/184 to move in further to allow boarding (doesn't work most
of the time), most NP/SIM students still prefer transferring buses
at opp Bt Timah Plaza than walking and the fully packed buses
usually fail to allow more pax to board. Therefore, sv52 is quite a
critical alternative there that has more room to allow students
transferring buses at the stop to get to school, given that
sv61/75/184 would arrive full house at the stop most of the time
and reject any pax transferring buses there.
Another way will be, of course, to really step up the deployment
of high capacity buses on sv61 and start deploying double-deck
buses for sv184 (which many in this forum apparently reject) so
that sv52 will become a less critical alternative and can be
amended away from Jln Anak Bt/Upp Bt Timah Rd.
With regards to evening peak, all 4 transferring buses
(sv52/61/75/184) between NP/SIM and Shell Kiosk along Upp Bt Timah
Rd would be packed to the brim, so I don't have comments on the
loading during evening peak hours.