Just what I noted when I took 190 back to CCK from opp far east
plaza 2 days ago at about 10.30pm. 2DDs, 2 Bendies and 1 SD came
together. The order was SMB5003U, TIB1127U, a E500, a MAN A22 and a
Box O405G. I wanted to board SMB5003U but the BC did not open the
door as it was fully packed to the front door (but upper deck
seemed to be only 75% full). So I ended up on TIB1127U, standing at
the front door. TIB1127U overtake SMB5003U along PIE. When I
reached CCK, I alighted and was waiting for 172 and I noticed
SMB5003U arrived a full 10mins after TIB1127U. Even the Box O405G
had overtaken SMB5003U. Which makes me think, are DDs really so
much more better? For a service like 190, the pros of DDs
definitely outweigh the cons.
But in a feeder service where passenger boarding and alighting
activities are so high, is DD really the best choice to solve the
overcrowding problem? Imagine you make the feeder full DD, the
dwell times increase and the total duration to complete the route
increase, you also have to buy more buses to take maintain the
frequency. And then you get bunching of buses (Example 241). On the
whole, you are using more buses and prolonging the travel time -
Does this really reduce the footprint on the road as opposed to
Bendies? I really cant imagine Yishun feeders using DDs. The dwell
times are going to be just too high and the travel time is going to
increase for every passenger making people think about the
efficiency of SG public transport. Like wise, if a service like 241
used a mix of Bendies and SDs, travel time would be shorter, dwell
times will be shorter, you will need lesser buses plying the route
and Im sure passengers will have a better ride. For feeders, seats
are never a priority for passengers anyway....Just some food for
thought!
(You might think the congestion to turn into BL int might be a
problem, I dont deny - but Id say mix Bendies and SDs. If you do
these for all feeders, you are reducing the number of buses turning
in anw. Since DDs have been added, Ive noticed greater bunching and
more buses being deployed due to additional travel times and this
is partially responsible for the congestion too...)
Let me tell you - 241 has a much better frequency than 804...
and 241 is a better operated service than 804 as well... 804 needs
more buses and bendy buses, not rigids.
On your DD v/s bendy point, it has been discussed 100+ times
here and it always wages a war, so lets refrain from getting into
that discussion again. On 190, DDs are doing excellent and CCK
commuters have openly expressed their happiness on all forums.
