If HK can do well without bendies, why can't SG? We just need
more education to encourage pax to move to the upper deck (except
the less mobile and wheelchair-bound which I understand).
HK has a population density of 6544 persons per sq km, much
tighter than Singapore's 7615 persons per sq km. With our limited
land space and smaller integrated transport hubs, having DDs &
SDs only will work better for the country.
If deploying DDs for short routes are not economical, a full SD
fleet can work out too. 1 eg is 238 during peak hours, which has to
operate full SD bcos of the road restrictions along Lor 8 TPY.
While 1 bus is picking up pax at the sv238 berth in the int,
another bus will be scheduled behind to depart later to clear up
the pax left behind by the front bus. Even sv806 (currently using
bendies) has to practice this in Yishun currently.
As for height and road space restrictions than does not permit
DDs to be deployed, we should have supplementary routes introduced
running parallel to such services, but skips the stretch of roads
with height/road space restrictions. As for CGA, it is really up to
LTA to bother designing a new DD-friendly bus int/ter for the
services.
As for a super short route like 902, I wouldn't even say it's
needed if 169 is able to operate at better frequencies compared to
now. Otherwise, it should have been introduced as SWT 169B.
HK bus services are structurally different from ours, much more
routes with express sectors. even those without express sectors do
not stop at every single bus stop along the road, saving time. the
distance between bus stop here is too short, adding unneeded time
to both the service runtime and commuter journey times. (are
singaporeans so damn lazy to walk they need bus stops every
200-300m???)
back to the point, most of their services are in such a way that
the first half of the bus route is when commuters board and then
the second half is alighting, hence their fare structure. eg $2
fare if you board at any first 6 stops, $1 fare for next 6 stops
and $0.50 for next six stops (very short sector near terminating
point, not much people will board). so not much turnover and no
problem of double deck buses stoning at bus stops because of a huge
amount of people boarding and alighting at the same time, generally
its either only boarding or alighting at a bus stop.
also, hong kong doesn't have many routes that are structured in
a way like our 'feeders' with have high turnover rates at every bus
stop. residential estates are adequately served by MTR and trunk
services that pass through the estates, including variations of
trunk services that are specially diverted into estates during peak
hours. there is no extreme centralization that our transport system
suffers from, pumping all passengers from trains and trunk routes
into feeder routes that can barely cope. (hub and spoke) just think
of two huge canals chanelling water into one small drain.
a radical change in our bus routes' structures is needed if we
were to entirely ditch bendies for dds.
i think most people who have gone to HK will understand what i
am trying to say about the way their routes and systems are
structured 
