There are many rumors that the bendy bus is already banned. Even
from a friend who knew people in LTA and SMRT. Well, I'm
afraid it is likely to be true. Even not, someone here have stated
earlier that it will be limited to a certain quota, so we will see
lesser of bendy buses in future.
I don't agree with you on the different trademark models
for different bus company that they should be forced upon
to be used and this shouldn't be the norm of Singapore culture. If
a type of bus model is proved to be more cost and operative
effective to operate, why not all bus companies use the same type
of buses to improve bus operations instead??? Why SMRT can't buy
double deckers where SBST can use them and proved to be more
suitable for our road conditions, in this congested and crowded
city??? I saw discussions in some earlier threads here, well, if
SBST can buy double deckers, why can't SMRT buy and have to forced
to use bendy buses which gives them many problems, especially
parking spaces???
Just like what it is in Hong Kong, regardless of KMB, CityBus,
etc, they all use double deckers, highly efficient for heavy
workloads, do not cause jams and long bus queues and yet being more
flexible than the MTR.
I still prefer double deckers over bendies in our heavy utilised
and narrow roads, just like the road conditions in Hong Kong. The
main reasons that LTA bans bendy buses is that they take up too
much road space on our roads and bus bays, especially those small
bus stops. LTA is not in favor in long bus queues, which apparently
was a big problem for bus operations in the 1970s. Not only it
causes long bus queues but also longer waiting times for other
commuters who wanted to take the bus that may be long behind the
queue. And it is really time exsperating for them, especially if
they see a long long empty bus/buses waiting in the queue, while
jamming the bus behind that they want to take.
Moreover they can jam up roads and cause inconvenience to other
road users, especially small slip roads, which they can block the
whole pedestrain crossing for pedestrain, or to other drivers like
blocking lanes of road when trying to make a right turn or
overtake, etc, causing jams behind. Imagine you are driving and a
long almost empty bendy bus block your way, it can be very
frustrating. 
Secondly they are very accident and fire prone in Singapore.
They have the highest accident/fire rates, followed by single
deckers, and surprisingly lastly are double deckers. Accidents
includes those minor ones that are not published in the press. Even
in London, they are very fire prone. Just look at our weather and
our stressed operative conditions, I think the Citaro Gs are going
to have a very hard time surviving here. Either it is frequent
breakdowns, or burnt Citaro Gs every month, won't it be a big waste
to see these buses burnt where instead they can survive longer in
other temperate countries. Look at the burnt buses rate for the
past few years, really heart breaking to see them burnt up just
like that. And look at the bus company operating point of view, if
the certain bus model is prone to fire, why does it want to buy it
and disrupt its operations now and then and have to spend extra
money to fix them up or buy replacements???
Lastly, Singapore public transport is moving towards a hub and
spoke concept. Thus we may see more shorter haul new services and
moving towards higher frequncies for bus services. Well, I do hope
they will keep all those long haul services, but definately they
are going to improve the frequncies in future, based on the lastest
QOS standards. If this is so, why still have to buy more bendy
buses to load in more people, (and it is not favoring for Singapore
roads and operations), where double deckers can do the same job,
without taking up more road space and take up more area in a bus
interchange and depot??? Moreover, the bendy bus only takes in
around 10 more people than an aircon double decker, but takes up
almost twice more the road space as the latter. Looking into
providing better frequencies, the passenger load up rate will be
much lesser than what it is now, so wouldn't it be a waste for the
bus operations and road space if the passenger load up rate is not
going to fill up the bendy bus all the time???
Do also keep in mind that the size of the bus depots of SMRT are
limited, so having too much bendy buses is a big headache for them
now. Right now, they are waiting for the west DTL to be finished
asap, so that they can withdraw and integrate some bus services in
the Northwest, and free up some buses to improve on other services
and at the same time resolve the space crunch in the 3 depots all
these years. That is also the time that most of the bendy buses
have reached their lifespan and withdraw from operations.
Looking into these factors, won't getting a double decker bus
being more cost and operative effective??? Do take note that the
new and upcoming bus interchanges are getting smaller in area, why
does bus companies still want to buy long bendy buses to jam up the
place even further??? And looking into another factor, given more
MRT lines in future, even current bus routes are left untouched,
there is a high possibility that there will be no or very few new
bus services in future, especially when LTA takes over the central
planning. What is more worrying is that we might even see lesser
double deckers in future, which I am strongly against.
However if LTA is only limiting the numbers, well, hope SBST can
buy a few bendy buses for some short haul services for our lazy and
pampered Singaporeans. I missed the Volvo B10MA bendy bus in the
late 1990s. And I also missed that era that SBS had the widest
range of buses, from midi-buses like the Darts, to single deckers,
to double deckers, air con and non air con, to 14.5m superlong bus,
to 19m bendy buses. Won't it be nice if SBST have a small fleet of,
say 100, Citaro Gs or B9LAs again??? 
