A possible soultion would be to
switch to use the NTU shuttle buses. If the reason why you take
179/179A is because you feel that the shuttle buses are
ineffective, perhaps you should feedback
to [email protected] (I found the email at http://www.ntu.edu.sg/has/Transportation/Pages/GettingAroundNTU.aspx)
Personally, I feel that it would
be good if more shuttle bus routes similar to the Campus Rider can
be created, to ferry students from other MRT stations, such as Joo
Koon (EW29), Choa Chu Kang (NS4), Masiling (NS8), Toa Payoh (NS19),
etc. , so that the crowd can be diverted to more MRT stations and
no MRT station would be overcrowded with students going to
NTU.
Perhaps you should suggest to the
LTA to create BSEP bus route(s) that goes into NTU, from other
areas. For instance, in view of the industrial areas at Wenya and
Jalan Bahar coming up, maybe a new BSEP bus can be created to serve
these industrial areas and loop at NTU.
Personally, I feel that 179's
frequency is very long, such that how soon it arrives at the bus
stop determines whether or not I would be late for school. As a
resident who relies on 179 to get to Pioneer MRT Station, I wish
that there can be a short-trip of 179 that loops at the PIE Nanyang
Flyover (or at the roundabout at the junction of Pioneer Road North
and Nanyang Crescent), operating during peak periods at least, so
that buses can arrive more often and my bus connection to Pioneer
MRT Station can be more reliable.
I agree that there may be insufficient number of buses deployed
to bus route 179, in particular during peak periods.
However, I cannot say anything about the short-trip 179A because
I never ride on 179A before. Maybe other forum users can share
their experiences on short-trip 179A, if they have rode on the
short-trip before.
Regarding having shuttle service from the major MRT station
during AM peak(similar to what some polytechnics have done), have
feedback to the transportation division and the SU. They will look
into the matter and perhaps study how it works (poly model),
primarily due to cost concern.
Adding on, the traffic flow in NTU can be improved.
E.g. Innovation Center bus stop can have a dedicated bus stop bay.
Especially during PM peak when many students are going back, the
layover of the bus at the bus stop will be long and cause a
hindrance of other traffic users (due to one lane) and also have
divider in place. Also prone for 179/179A to bunch together at this
area and most likely travel in a convoy after that. If there is a
dedicated bus stop bay, some of the 179/179A can consider skipping
that bus stop (if there are 2-3 buses there and no one alighting)
and serve the next bus stop (Hall 4) so on and so forth (more
likely to improve the flow and efficiency)?
