All in all, the closure of Marine Parade Ter is still one of the
few grave mistakes made by the authorities in history, since they
did not make proper plans of possible replacement terminating
points for the affected services.
The location of Upp East Coast Ter isn't prime either, given
that if all 8 (13, 16, 55, 76, 135, 155, 196 & 853C) were
extended there, they'll end up duplicating one another excessively
and, complaints.
Thus, only 2 of the 8 services were selected to terminate there,
while 1 (later increased to 2) was extended to Bedok Int while
duplicating sv197 and the rest, loop at the former site of the
terminal, resulting in many of these routes to become excessively
long and then, complaints again.
Nothing that is done in bus route planning ever pleases
everyone.
MOE needed the land for the building of Victoria School in
preparation for its integrated program. 196 extended to Bedok as it
was too long to loop. The finishing touches were being applied to
UEC. I know because my old army unit was located right next to it.
The camp has since been demolished and its servicemen moved to
another garrison.
Later, 13 & 853 were extended to UEC. SBS then intro 48, 43
& 45 from scratch while the ex-MP routes continued to loop at
Siglap. In the meantime, 608 was withdrawn, bringing the CSS story
to a close. This paved the way for 16 to be extended to Bedok 2
years later. In 2010, 76 was amended to loop at Marine Tce. 506 was
extended to UEC, providing a direct link between Bedok Reservoir
and Bedok South. 48 was also extended to BNDEP via TNM MRT.
This leaves 55. 135 & 155 still looping at Siglap. 155 could
be extended to CBP, but it would duplicate 47. In the old days, 155
originated from Somapah, which made way for the current SUTD
building.
Is it just me, or does 150 resemble an enhanced version of M4? I
remember 13 merged with M4 and 15 extended to Amber Circus. Eunos
lost 3 routes in one go.