Oh and btw, road conditions on popular svcs is not the only
reason for introducing short variants of DDs in HK. It is also
becoz of the travelling pattern and the fixture of most
routes.
In Singapore, these DDs don't work AT ALL due to high turnover
rates. In HK is different as short DDs allows more pax to be seated
than standing (while carrying the same, if not more than the amount
of paz a KUB can carry), and thus this is appropriate for most HK
routes which either have many express sectors or sectors with long
distances between stops.
Moreover, it also works great on cross-harbour svcs with less
demand as it again allows more pax seated during the tunnel journey
and still save till costs like an SD. 690 and 694 uses most of
these during off-peak, alongside some SDs.
So the short DDs actually make a perfect alternative to a 12m
DD. It doesn't mean that with road conditions then you will get
short DDs, becoz it justs depends on how the company wants to use
it, after all, and HK is doing quite a good job at this I can
say.
I'm glad at least someone understands.
The pax turnover rate here for trunk services is unusually high,
especially for buses plying through MRT stations due to pax who use
them as feeder services.
As this will only worsen with more pax using the transit system,
perhaps one way to overcome that would be to have trunks to bypass
the stops near to MRT stations as the new Citydirect services has
done.
This will allow for more efficient usage of DD with less
passenger movement, as they now travel for longer distances.
