Didn't take down any exact stats but just observations.
Rode sv200 today between 6-7 pm on a Citaro (6769C) from KRT to
BNV MRT. There were two
sectors along the ride where sv200 received almost full pax
loading.
The first stretch was along Pasir Panjang Rd up till Haw Par
Villa MRT. Standees that led to the entrance door of the bus.
Demand returned to low after Haw Par Villa MRT. To be fair, the
slightly higher demand along this stretch could be attributed to
the arrival of bus sv along Pasir Panjang Rd. In this case, sv200
arrived before the other sv that ply the same stretch
(sv10/30/51/143/188), thus the slightly higher demand.
The second stretch was from
South Buona Vista Rd to Buona Vista MRT. The peak boarding stops
were outside LP
37 and
LP 49 along South Buona Vista
Rd respectively. The bus left LP 49 packed to
the door. I was expecting most pax to get off at Kent Ridge MRT
(I.E. the nearest MRT station), but the majority stayed up till
Buona Vista MRT.
After looking up on the developments near the two peak boarding
stops along South Buona Vista Rd, it is realized that these 2 stops
are located near industrial buildings (namely Cordlife, PPD Global
Central Labs, Bio-Scaffold Intl and Aibel Pte Ltd) in S'pore
Science Park II.
This shows that quite a number of workers in S'pore Science Pk
II prefer to take sv200 from South Buona Vista Rd to BNV MRT
instead of sv183 from Science Park Rd to Clementi MRT.
My previous observation (I don't know if I have posted) is the
same. The bus can receive more than 60 pax from LP37 and
LP49...
I guess the reason why people do not alight at Kent Ridge
is:
- The bus stop opposite Kent Ridge MRT exit B is inconvenient.
From there, if you want to take CCL, you have to either walk to
Exit A along Lower Kent Ridge Rd, or walk to a pedestrian crossing
at the junction (which is far), cross the road and walk back to
Exit B, enter, then either walk through the entire station to go
down to platform via the only escalators/stairs near Exit A, or use
the tiny little lift at the other end of the concourse nearer to
Exit B (which can be very very crowded during peak hours). You can
see how lousy it is.
- They can take EWL at Buona Vista but cannot do so at Kent
Ridge. Even if they're taking CCL, they can still board at Buona
Vista instead of Kent Ridge, and additional traveling time on sv
200 is insignificant (unless there's traffic jam). For the
direction towards Bishan/Dhoby Ghaut, it doesn't make much
difference; for the direction towards HarbourFront, the demand is
not so high.