It's completely pointless now to get bendy buses because of BSEP
to increase the number of buses to improve the frequencies, hence
loading of SDs able to hasten and also improve traffic flows, and
private operators also chipped in the handling of feeder services
during peak hours.
Moreover all assets, including buses will be under LTA in
future. So LTA will do the fleet purchase in future and operators
only to choose which to use. Hence not practical buses will be
phased out. And with the increased fleet, means other operators are
able to handle the feeder services, other than the local ones.
And with new interchanges occupying smaller areas, limited
parking slots,and more buses and bus services in future, bendy
buses are creating more problems instead in future and a hindrance
of bus services improvements.
I'll rather SMRT convert the 40 A24 orders to better buses like
A95, and add another 260 A95s to allow SMRT to have 300 more new
double deckers.
What if LTA chooses to purchase articulated buses in the
future?
The next question you will be thinking is LTA must be crazy to
do that because there is no space to set down and layover at the
interchange.
Then, my next question is must articulated buses always start
and end their journey at the bus interchange, layover at the
interchange, or even enter the interchange?
Many bus planners around the world face the same set of problems
in urban cities but they go beyond conventional thinking to find
their solutions.
The same still could be applied to an all DD solution, as our
bus interchanges are getting more congested with additional
buses.