Hi mr Dupdup 77, I doubt anyone is willing to take 117 from
Interchange to Khatib/yishun (19+ stops), compared to 965. Some
more 965 BCs like to run very fast.
Hi mr sbs6750E, I understand where you are coming from. But
people are very sensitive and realistic human beings.
Imagine if the guy stays in Punggol central Blk 264 (Punggol
west), will he take sbs 117 downstairs his house which is very
direct to khatib as it goes straight out to TPE and turn right? Or
do you think he will take sbs 43/117/118 one stop to interchange
then take sbs 82/136 a few stops to Punggol rd then walk across the
bridge to take smrt 965? Of course he will take the direct sbs 117
and not the 3 buses method transfer to smrt 965. The number of
stops for sbs 117 is being offset by the inconvenience of transfer
plus triple waiting time.
Imagine if the guy stays in Punggol central Blk 649 (Punggol
east), will he take the quite direct sbs 85 or will he take 3/83/85
to Punggol mrt to transfer to sbs 117? Sbs 85 used to be one of his
fastest options besides taking sbs 83 to Punggol road to transfer
to smrt 965 which is comparable. Now he has another option to get
to bus interchange to transfer to sbs 117 which is much simpler and
slightly faster. Take note it is very convenient to transfer at
Punggol bus interchange for punggol east residents than to transfer
at Punggol road and walking across the bridge.
There is also no need to worry about dropping ridership for
83/85. On the contrary, sbs 83/85 will receive a direct boost just
because LTA made sbs 117/118 only go to punggol west side. I
foresee many along punggol central/east will take sbs 3/83/85 a few
stops away to interchange to transfer to both sbs 117/118 which are
expected to be immensely popular especially sbs 118. Note that
there has been a spike in ridership for sbs 3/83/85 ever since Blk
622 hdb flats were occupied since few years back. We just wait a
few weeks and see. Cheers. Thanks.
