I absolutely DISAGREE with your statement that DDs have lesser
capacity than bendy buses. In fact, DDs have more capacity than
bendy buses in Singapore.
1. You have 82 seats compared to 59 seats in a bendy
2. Standing space in bendies is more than DDs because of its
length, and overall bendies as well as DDs can comfortably fit
120-125 pax. So the logic of 2 DDs = 1 bendy is
absurd
3. DDs consume lesser fuel than bendy buses. It is just by the
logic of more wheels on the road, more consumption
4. Maintenance of bendy buses is higher because of the mid-joint
connecting the two parts.
5. Road space of course is critical in a country like ours.
Also, boarding time is the same for both, alighting bendy might
provide better option.
6. Bendies often face the issue of people not moving to the
rear, which is not a big issue with DDs. This is often seen on
even crowded buses like 190 that the 2nd compartment has lot of
space, but people have not moved back.
7. We should not even be talking about PIW for bendies in
Singapore, as we don't have experience with it yet. For bringing
the full bus to the PIW level might again require more effort than
a DD or rigid.
Just my thoughts...
Why are people still thinking of seats in this day and age?
If seats are all you care about, then why not just install a single
door or use a WAB high floor coach?
While the entire world is moving towards more doors for better
access, why should we be thinking about seats??? We have the NBfL
going for 3 doors and 2 stairs (from 2 for a typical dd), and
MAN's Lion City GL going for 5 doors from 3 or 4.
The point and benefit of a bendy is not seats, but better access
with more doors (even though we are just using them at half
efficiency with just alighting on the rear doors). This leads to
the question of why are we still using single door boarding for
feeders as sgbuses has mentioned.
With 2 doors and a single staircase, the typical DD has a huge
bottleneck on services with high turnover. Just look at sv 10
and 30 at Hbf bus stop and count how long it takes for 1 full DD to
offload and reboard. Does it make sense for an entire bus to be
stationary (and blocking the busstop) for 3 to 4 minutes just
because of the seats it provides? This is partially why NBfL is
designed with 2 stairs and 3 doors (for both boarding and
alighting). Less seats, but better and swifter travel.
Is a 3axle DD with 3 doors and 2 stairs the answer then?
Unfortunately no one makes such a bus till date, and most designs
cannot be adapted to install a 3rd door due to the engine position.
So it will be some time till we find out, but I believe could
be.
Having said that, DDs still have their value in moving large
number of passengers over a long distance, with little passenger
turnover.
And lastly, moving the same 15 tonnes of metal takes the same
amount of energy regardless of the number of tyres. More tyres
simply reduces the per square inch pressure on the road.
