179A PM peak 12 - 25 mins headway?

sbst275 SG

This evening I did notice not a single 179A inside BNL layover! Freq of 179A these days is like 12 - 25 mins a bus in the evening from what I observed wo.

Ohh yeah, all thks to SLBP's switching of 179A trips into 179, massive hogging up at Pioneer MRT Stn.

Any 179A tat passes by can't move all thks to at least 3 179 calling the bus stop w/ 241 or 255! The other lane will have 1 NTU shuttle bus chomping the lane. It's no longer semi express.

Obviously buses no show from SLBP wo

I've been noticing thks to this gerrymandering, sometimes geninue commuters residing at Jurong West Extn can't board 179 by the time bus arrives South Spine cos the 179 will just bypass it. Tat said, students stubbornly want to take 179 to Pioneer depriving everyone of a boarding chance wat to do . 179A arr got seat dun want .

Till to this day how come SLBP can dispatch more 179 when the AM trips dun tally.

sbst275 SG

The ratio is pretty scary

5 or 6 179 bef 1 179A appears.

I pity those at Blk 940 bus stop, forever experiencing hard boarding n seeing 80% filled 179A bypassing it.

sinicker SG

what would be your solution?

afterall, NTU people just want to go take their trains quickly.

sbst275 SG

I'm not going to emphasis on this again. Because for anything it's done at Pioneer, other bus svs would be affected.

179: Just follow what's on the electronic bus guide, 5 - 6 mins per bus. As I've said, it makes no sense that AM peak freq being 5 - 6 mins, PM peak is 1 - 3 mins. PM peak does not have the AM crossover, it would result in a big 10 mins freq gap one.

It also results those ppl who truly wants to head to Boon Lay to squeeze with people heading to the HDB town for the same bus since the 179A ends w/ no show.

Everyone wants the bus to Pioneer, then wat abt ppl at South Spine or Opp Blk 940? SBS is alrdy contributing 1% of its fleet to NTU, tat's a lot alrdy.

Then it comes to Pioneer Stn itself. PM peak you would see the possible lineup, 179 (12), 241 (15), 255 (10), 257 (7.5), resulting in 44.5 trips made per hour during the peak within peak hour. I believe it takes a good 2 mins to clear 179's crowd as I observed the students dun have a habit of utilising the entrance door for alighting to speed up the process. This lineup is pretty ok as commuters taking 241, 255 or 257 would not have to wait long to be cleared.

Wat makes worst is you've the NTU shuttle bus at the bus stop bay. It results you can only have 1 bus at bay w/o blocking the traffic flow.

To sum it up, w/ lesser buses and everyone wants it frequent, the only way is to have 179A being functional. It also helps as the 179 full route has to handle the sizeable part time student load at around 6pm - 7pm. This means an empty 179A bus can just concentrate on boarding passengers in the evening.

Neither do I agree onto expanding Pioneer Stn bus stop because the noise of the bus traffic would likely see residents complaining abt it, the houses are pretty close as well and there's ground level units for Jurong West's devt.

sbst275 SG

If I'm not wrong, the AM peak figures for 179 shows tat 25% are from Int, 50% from Pioneer, 25% from New Town bus stops.

If we add in 179A's fig, then it becomes 62.5% from Int, 25% from Pioneer, 12.5% from New Town.

Shows 87.5% actually has a choice of 179 or 179A, but a sizeable of 12.5% of people are forced to take 179.

sbst275 SG

Noted this

Dunno what is SLBP doing.

179A now ninja from North Spine, uses 179 to operate. No wonder why erratic frequency, cos buses now run 179 and incurring inbound run time + outbound's stopping at Pioneer.

Even so, 179A is operating at 6 - 9 mins interval at South Spine.

179 skips South Spine, ends up those living inside Jurong West can't even board their bus. Abt 200 pax could not board 179 or 179A at South Spine.

The other side, 2 - 3 totally empty 241 entering Jurong West St 91.

Obviously SLBP isn't dispatching buses and spoiling the entire system.

Like I've said, 179 should skip Pioneer MRT Station entirely, ends up for the stupid MRT seats those who really needs 179 are deprived of their boarding chance. Jolly well all alight at Boon Lay, back to old days.

Bus Stopping SG

Honestly, if during AM peak the 179A queue is constantly moving (less when the bus is moving off and next one just arrived) then there's nearly no reason why anyone would jump over to 179.

Saves journey time not to jump to 179. But if theres not enough 179A to go around, then thats it...

sinicker SG

this week i am impressed with 179A.....

on wednesday got VIP view, standing beside the BC.

next week i'll start going home during the real peak hours of 4.30pm & 6.30pm....

chickenlittle2 SG

If I'm not wrong, the AM peak figures for 179 shows tat 25% are from Int, 50% from Pioneer, 25% from New Town bus stops.

If we add in 179A's fig, then it becomes 62.5% from Int, 25% from Pioneer, 12.5% from New Town.

Shows 87.5% actually has a choice of 179 or 179A, but a sizeable of 12.5% of people are forced to take 179.

so can kindly share where your figures come from?

sbst275 SG

so can kindly share where your figures come from?

on the ground

Also, SLBP should be dispatching more 179A instead. Ends up Pioneer Stn bus stop can be flooded

Like I've said, those at South Spine can hardly board even if they really need the bus.

chickenlittle2 SG

on the ground

Also, SLBP should be dispatching more 179A instead. Ends up Pioneer Stn bus stop can be flooded

Like I've said, those at South Spine can hardly board even if they really need the bus.

I think they tried out puting more 179A previously, however the whole schedule screwed up cos buses arrives at different timing and jammed up Boon Lay int(boarding and unloading). Obviously, the jam now end up at Pioneer. Quite difficult to manage with more 179A deployed too.

I do agree that the crossover to 241 can delay it to 5pm, cos the crowd from Boon Lay and Pioneer only starts after 5.15pm..

sbst275 SG

Well, the problem is ppl prefer to alight at Pioneer.

Now NTU has shuttle buses using Pioneer, now there' 241A. So it's natural high volume svs like 179 should skip Pioneer totally. The bus stop is only meant for 1.5 bus size.

As far as I've noticed, these days with only 25 buses, they ended up doing more n more 179. Ends up 10 mins waiting time is possible.

In the first place, if I'm not wrong 179A uses some 16 buses to maintain 3.5 mins freq, 12 to maintain 179's 5.5 mins freq.

There's nothing abt more 179A, cos the only headache is at BNL Int and not inside the neighbourhood affecting the entire bus sv network. Less travelling time, lesser buses incurred and buses could be freed up for Tuas's devt.

sinicker SG

AM : we are fine with taking 179A from BNL Int. in fact it's faster with entrance/exit door boarding rather than 179 at Pioneer MRT Stn busstop.

PM : of course we wanna alight at Pioneer. everyone wants to go home shortest time and have a chance at a seat in the train right? especially for me. all 55mins of it.

sbst275 SG

But problem is the jam at Pioneer. One jam, 241, 255 & 257 also tio. 5 die altogether.

Neither is it possible to lengthen that bus stop.

sinicker SG

But problem is the jam at Pioneer. One jam, 241, 255 & 257 also tio. 5 die altogether.

Neither is it possible to lengthen that bus stop.

sadly, commuter travel patterns are there to stay no matter the infrastructure at Pioneer MRT station busstop.....

service_238 SG

how about the both of you raise it with NTU’s student union or any other relevant authorities so that they can do something? final year already do something for your school or just tahan and let someone else settle in another academic year. :X

chickenlittle2 SG

Well, the problem is ppl prefer to alight at Pioneer.

Now NTU has shuttle buses using Pioneer, now there' 241A. So it's natural high volume svs like 179 should skip Pioneer totally. The bus stop is only meant for 1.5 bus size.

As far as I've noticed, these days with only 25 buses, they ended up doing more n more 179. Ends up 10 mins waiting time is possible.

In the first place, if I'm not wrong 179A uses some 16 buses to maintain 3.5 mins freq, 12 to maintain 179's 5.5 mins freq.

There are complains where the NTU shuttle bus are taking up the space at Pioneer.

I am sorry to say that there are times where 179 buses are asked to cover the empty slot in other services. 179 is always the choice for cover duties due to the number of buses avaliable.

In fact, NTU itself should play a part in putting in more shuttle services too. BNL will unlikely to add on any more buses in this service due to the infrastructure.

sinicker SG

already did. even gave them my number to call me if (i indicated) "the University, SU & SBSTransit are serious about solving this problem once and for all."

a bit enraged already coz' yearly they do survey on the shuttle buses provided by Tong Tar....

the call never came.............

chickenlittle2 SG

any feedback on today's schedule?

sinicker SG

any feedback on today's schedule?

i alighted 179 at Pioneer MRT busstop at about 5.45pm.

there were 2 179s, 1 Shuttle D, 1 255 & 1 Private Bus Chartered by a company...... both lanes stuck. honking by ANOTHER private bus at the back of the queue....

actually it's because the Private Bus didn't want to queue behind. wanna take the inner lane and go busstop. sekali no space. -____- then it just blocked the road.

so what happens to the Joo Koon MRT Station roadside terminal plan?