85 is to serve the Sengkang East/West and Punggol residents.
Unfortunately, Punggol is still under development, and so is
Sengkang West. Some at Sengkang East have a choice of 965, while
the others, however not much, will have to stick to 85. But then,
not many people there will really return from Yishun in late night.
In fact, 965's main load from Yishun to Sengkang (which of course
is more than 85 by a lot more, don't believe you go see) will clear
at Blk 190C, the stop where they can change to key services such as
83, 86, 88 and 161. In fact, even the residents at Punggol will
rather 965 --> 82/83/136 becoz of the faster route 965 take. So
that kills the Punggol load for 85 too. So not saying 85 is
redundant, but only its golden age is not yet here. Which is why 85
remains at full fleet SDs and less frequent than other services
like 161.
For 39 it's different. People from Pasir Ris will take 39. And
different is becoz PSR residents only have 39, no choice. And
nobody will take bus round and round to Tampines and take 969. And
it has better frequency too. Though no DDs are needed for 39 it
does need more reliable freq coz the door-jamming loads are caused
by delayed buses and not by its already-okay freq.
Regarding how 85 is thought to be better than 965, I have to
agree on that. 85 is thought to be better becoz of the
misconception that SBS is ALWAYS better than SMRT. After all,
everyone has its own good points and flaws. And for this one, I
have to to give it for 965. Yes, I was also one who used to think
85 > 965.
Hmm definetely...but by adding 1 more bus, doesn't kill right?
:o
And in that case, 39 should terminate at Pasir Ris Int then? At
least there's demand there? And the trip down to Tampines already
have 168/969.