http://app.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.aspx?c=2&id=9c300309-204f-4b97-b4c3-00354873807b
1. By end June 2013, a total of 215 new buses have been added on
the roads to improve 101 existing bus services and introduce 12 new
bus services under the on-going Bus Service Enhancement Programme
(BSEP). Between April and June 2013, 181 bus
services have been improved to reduce crowding and increase bus
frequencies. Two more new bus services will be introduced to
enhance connectivity by September this year. These improved bus
services will benefit many commuters island-wide.
Better connectivity with new bus services
2. Two new bus services will be implemented in the third quarter
of 2013. One of these will be the Jurong West City Direct bus
service that will provide commuters in Jurong West an alternative
travel option to the city during the peak periods. The other will
be a new feeder service in Woodlands, with details to be provided
by the Public Transport Operator (PTO) closer to the implementation
date.
Better bus services
3. To reduce crowding and waiting times, additional buses have
been added to 18 bus services with heavy ridership during the
morning and evening peak periods in the second quarter of 2013. In
all, 215 more weekly peak hour bus trips have been added in the
second quarter. (Please refer to
Annex A for list of these bus services).
4. SBS Transit Service 139, for example, now runs at an improved
frequency, at intervals of 7 to 10 minutes during the morning peak
period, compared to 8 to 12 minutes previously. Similarly, for the
evening peak, the intervals have been shortened from 10 to 13
minutes to the current 8 to 13 minutes.
5. Service 981 operated by SMRT Buses now runs at shorter
intervals of 9 to 12 minutes during the morning peak period and 10
to 13 minutes during the evening peak period, as compared to 12 to
15 minutes in the morning, and 18 to 20 minutes in the evening
previously.
6. Mr Yeo Teck Guan, the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) Group
Director for Public Transport said, “We are on track to deliver
around 280, or more than half of the 550 BSEP buses committed by
the Government by end of this year. Commuters can look forward to a
better ride as we roll out more buses in the coming quarters. This
includes the first City Direct bus service operated by private
operator that will be launched in September. To augment the
resources of the PTOs, we have also invited private operators to
run another 9 new City Direct bus services which will be
progressively rolled out from January next year.”
7. SBS Transit CEO, Mr Gan Juay Kiat said, "Since January this
year, we have rolled out four new bus services and improved the
frequency of 73 bus services. We will continue to do more in the
coming months, working closely with the LTA to improve our
services. At the same time, we will step up our investments in
training so that our expanded workforce is able to deliver quality
service to our commuters."
8. Vice-President of SMRT Buses Ltd, Mr Tan Kian Heong said, “We
are encouraged by the positive results of the BSEP thus far, and
remain committed to raising our service standards to provide a
better commuting experience to our passengers. On top of supporting
the BSEP, we have also been making several other improvements to
raise our service standards. These include progressively renewing
and expanding our bus fleet, remaining agile to adjust schedules
and routes when demand changes, adding trips to increase passenger
capacity, and embarking on specific strategies to enhance the
recruitment and development of our bus captains.”
9. In addition, as part of the on-going quarterly bus service
review process, the PTOs have also improved 36 bus services2
by deploying higher capacity buses and/or adding more bus trips
along sectors that experience consistent heavy ridership to better
match demand and increase frequency/capacity along these sectors.
Together, the two operators have added a total of 210 weekly trips
during peak hours for these 36 services.
10. Under the BSEP, the Government will partner the bus
operators to significantly ramp up bus capacity and service levels
by providing funding for 550 buses to reduce crowding and improve
frequencies of existing basic bus services, and run about 40 new
bus routes. In addition, six more City Direct bus services will be
introduced under BSEP, bringing the total number of parallel bus
services to 14, from eight previously, with 10 to be operated by
private bus operators.
11. The bulk of BSEP enhancements are expected to be completed
by end 2014. Together with the 250 buses that the PTOs will add to
their fleet at their own cost, these 800 new buses will amount to a
20% increase in bus fleet.
12. With the additional capacity, commuters can expect
better service levels. By end 2014, the PTOs will be required to
reduce the loading levels for all basic bus services to 85%, down
from today’s 95% of their licensed bus capacity.
13. Peak hour frequencies for feeder and trunk bus services will
also be improved. Under the BSEP, all services will operate within
20-minute scheduled intervals, with another 10% of services having
intervals brought down even further to within 12-minutes.
Currently, under the existing Quality of Service (QoS) Standards,
all services have to operate within 30-minute scheduled intervals,
of which 80% must be within 10-minute scheduled
intervals.
14. LTA has put up nine new City Direct routes for tender by
private bus operators in June 2013. These parallel bus services
will provide improved connectivity for commuters travelling into
the city from areas like Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bukit Batok, Eunos,
Hougang, Jurong East, Sembawang, Sengkang and West Coast. The new
bus services will be launched progressively from January 2014 to
second quarter 2014.
15. Apart from the City Direct-type of services, LTA will also
work with private bus operators to operate shorter services during
peak hours, such as localised routes in estates that bring
residents to the nearby MRT stations. Such services will serve to
complement the existing feeder bus services operated by the PTOs,
reducing waiting time and improving reliability of the bus services
that connect commuters to key transport nodes. Tenders for these
short services will be called in the later half of 2013, with
services to be implemented progressively from 2014. Details will be
provided when ready.
http://app.lta.gov.sg/data/apps/news/press/2013/20130627_BSEP-ImpBServiceLevels%28Apr-Jun13%29.pdf
http://app.lta.gov.sg/data/apps/news/press/2013/20130627_BSEP-LTAMap-25June13%28FA%29.pdf
1 Bus services
enhanced under BSEP in 2Q 2013:
SBS Transit bus services: Services 3, 63, 58, 70, 79, 139 and
196
SMRT bus services: Services 77, 106, 176, 190, 302, 700, 850E, 901,
963, 966 and 981
2 SBS Transit bus
services improved between April and June 2013 under the quarterly
bus service review process: Services 7, 12, 15, 19, 22, 28, 29, 39,
55, 57, 59, 76, 78, 87, 101, 138, 156, 168, 183, 185, 199, 243,
249, 252, 254, 257, 261 and 269
SMRT bus services improved between April and June 2013
under the quarterly bus service review process: 190, 307,
913, 962, 969, 975, 981 and 971E