Haha actually no need argue so much. So far, SMRT has been doing
a good job in purchasing those DDs and putting them on their trunk
services. Especially Services like 190, 857, 963 and 966 have
improved greatly from the past where they had crowd management
issues.
In my own opinion, I would really like to see Bendys being used
on Feeder services and especially those short haul feeder services
because the efficiency of bendys in those areas cant be denied.
Take Sercice 804 and you can see it (Or go see the youbtube videos
of A24 on 804). I stay in a SBST area and I do find it frustrating
when people crowd the lower deck and I cant board even though the
upper deck is so empty, for feeder routes. Which is a reason why I
prefer AMDEP's operation of 265, 268 with 3-4mins frequency and all
SD.
BUT, yes, we are a small country and space is important too.
Simply saving space and overlooking the benefits to the publics is
not wise and similarly using bendys where DDs can do a better job
and simultaneously save sapce is not wise too (which is one reason
why I cant understand why SMRT chooses to perm A24s on 851,854
etc). No point arguing to see DDs or Bendys just because of
personal preferences.
If you want more people to patronise the upper deck of a DD even
on feeders, its actually pretty easy. No need for 12.5m 3-axle etc.
Just need to deploy staff on the ground to encourage people to go
up and over time, the habit should stick (I can see it working for
SMRT trunks). The 12.5m 3-axle only improves alighting efficiency
but not necessarily encourage more people to go up.
But we are an ageing population and it will be quite
contradictory to have purchased low floor buses, only to make
people climb more steps to the upper deck even for short distances.
There will come a time in future when the number of seats just in
the lower deck wont be sufficient to seat all the older citizens
and some will be forced to go up or stand. So these are things that
LTA will need to take into consideration before making the right
decisions that benefit the people as a whole.