Sir, if you are staying at HG Ave9/4, would you rather go to a
MRT near your place or one that is far?! Serangoon and Buangkok to
Hougang Ave9/4 is between a matter of 30mins for the former and
10mins MAX for the latter
Hypothetical speaking It is like asking someone who is staying at
Bedok North to take train to Eunos when Bedok is nearer...
Anyway wat is done cannot be rescinded
One does not need to totally introduce a new route, with enough
publicity and since newer buses are using EDS, route details can be
programmed.
Frequent visitors to HK, UK will understand that there are
variations to bus routes
Eg for KMB:
rt.1 :Star Ferry to Chuk Yuen
rt1A: Star Ferry to Sau Mau Ping Central
Most of the route is similar, except 1A heads further to Sau Mau
Ping Central in East Kowloon.
Similarly, can renumber 109A to 109M so that residents in Hougang
Ave 9/4 knows that this service will bring them to Buangkok
MRT.
The EDS on the front of the bus will just flash:
BUANGKOK MRT 109M
(no need running EDS)
Commuters must be educated and know how to differentiate, if not
there will be chaos...
In HK, 112,170,171 runs evening peak trips to Mong kok(not final
termination point) so as to allow the bus to turn around faster,
apparently it has still not caught on by the Central Planning Unit
and PTOs, even though empty buses are dispatched from Terminals to
the Trip Start Point(ie halfway through the route)
EDS reads: 112 MONGKOK
people heading the routes will wait for their respective
buses
in London:
Metroline 390 sometimes stops at EUSTON and off service from there
rather than to the end point at Archway.
Overseas operators push their buses to get as much revenue as
possible unlike SG where buses park idly at bus
terminals/interchanges...
SG public transport has much more to learn from overseas
operators...
You might be right that Buangkok is closer to Hougang Ave 4, but
also the truth is a lot of people take 109 from Serangoon after
alighting from CCL and NEL to Hougang Ave 4/9. I have taken a WEG
6+pm from Serangoon Interchange and while it left interchange with
50-55 pax, along Boundary Rd and YCK Link, it picked up pax that
made more than 90 pax. And I was surprised to see 60-70 pax
alighted on stops along HG Ave 9 and HG Ave 4. When the bus came to
Buangkok Green, it was left with barely 30-35 pax, some of whom who
boarded along HG Ave 9/4.
So for me this SWT makes sense, else SBST would have to
introduce more DDs during that time from Serangoon to Changi (which
could be waste of resources since beyond Buangkok loading is very
low in PM).
