Am I the only one who's disappointed with 47? Major duplication
with 12 and 38. Yes it does help in bringing people to Katong
Shopping Centre and Temasek JC, but not much uniqueness.
If 47 was just to connect CBP with Marine Parade, I would rather
extend 135 to CBP via ECP as a more direct link between them. Then
47 could have been rerouted from Tanah Merah further towards the
west, passing by Bedok.
Can expect 38 to be even further away from fleet adds. So
sad as it's actually quite a unique intertown route.
47 is quite good actually in my opinion. It does serve two
main purposes:
1) It relieves the extremely high loading along Marine Parade
Road, along the Victoria School - Victoria Junior College corridor.
(Interestingly, 47 more or less covers the route which was
cut off when that tree fell recently...) 48, which has no
double deckers, is usually very crowded at peak hours. 31,
which has double deckers, is also crowded, possibly due to
the fact that they already picked up many passengers before heading
to the 'Victorian' area. 36 has no double-deckers due to
airport height restrictions, and runs only westbound. The fact that
47 loops at the west end of Marine Parade Road means that it is
more dedicated to serve the area, as opposed to 12 which will be
"cham" with passengers from the city.
2) it offers a much needed connection eastwards "beyond" Bedok.
At the bus stops near CHIJ Katong, Neptune Ct and Hua Xin Ct, if
you want to take the bus to Tanah Merah (a key transport node as
the bus stop has many buses there, 2, 12, 14, 24 etc etc), 196, 197
and 43 are out (all 3 of which have the highest frequency), and
commuters are stuck waiting for 31 or 48, both of which are
notorious among students of the Victorias, CHIJ and Tao Nan for
poor frequency. 196 and 197 cut off at Bedok and hence are
unfeasible for those commuters, and 43 ends off at Upp East Coast
terminal, which to them, might as well be in the middle of nowhere,
while 76 terminates at Marine Terrace and doesn't even cover VS as
it used to. 47 neatly helps to bring people from Marine
Parade Road eastbound, saving one less transfer.
PS. I like the route duplication with 12 actually. 12 has
a ridiculously bad frequency at off-peak hours, and the alternative
38 has no double deckers, so having another route should relieve
congestion or at the very least mean a shorter wait.
