I agreed that SMRT bus services should be taken away from
SMRT.
I am terribly dissapointed with the SMRT bus services plying in
my neighbourhood. For example SMRT 970, that provides the only link
between Commonwealth MRT, Holland Ave, Holland Road and Sixth Ave,
one has to wait patiently for that bus. And when it arrives it is
always packed.
My feedback to SMRT received a blant reply that current fleet of
buses to SMRT970 is sufficent in meeting the demand, and the
weekday evening peak at 17min, thus my previous wait for upt to
13min was not sufficiently long enough .., phew.
SMRT just refuse to understand that the change to 'distance fare
charges' has changed the habbit of many commuters, and people like
me who use to walk from Buona Vista MRT now seek bus transfer from
Commonwealth MRT instead.
17 min, one can travel by train from Commonwealth to City
Hall...
SMRT should have noted that when buses are more packed, more
time are wasted at each bus stops, besides affecting their own
arrival timing, they affect those of other buses as well. For sake
of the bus community, please give up your bus operations, anyway
your heart is not in it.
Just yesterday, I had a "wonderful" experience with SMRTB. That
was almost midnight. Waited almost 30 minutes for bus 858 in
Airport T3. One uncle waved goodbye to his friend who took bus 34,
the second airport service with poor frequencies, but still
much better than 858. Heard his conversation with his auntie
collegue that bus 858 is forever the hardest to wait there, happy
come in 2 at a time, not happy then have to wait for a long time
before he can even board the bus. Auntie keep on looking at her
watch for at least 5 times, and looking out for 858 everytime a bus
came, but to her dismay, all are SBST buses.
The queue stretched all the way beyond bus 53 berth.
Everyone wants to go home for the long weekend, so many people
tried to squeeze into the bus. I pity those taking luggages trying
to board the bus, so even tried to board from the rear door. The
bus was filled to the brim, yes back of the bus is also squeezy.
Spent the whole 10 mins trying to squeeze people in before moving
off to T1.
At T1, most people cannot board even some alighted. Queue almost
touched the next berth. Wasted some time trying to squeeze people
in, which in the end some gave up, unhappily waiting for the next
bus.
T2, queue was long too, many people tried to squeeze into the
bus again while some alighted. Some just gave up and wait for the
next bus. BC went for toilet break. Almost 15 mins! An old uncle
shouted across the bus: "Wah, good service. Jia zhua (eat snake)
good service" Many people are complaining and frustrated for all
the long waits.
And this service hardly improves even after years and years of
such standards. Still extend to Sembawang to make things worse.
Pity those Woodlands residents going to airport. Can't cope then
don't extend. Or give up the service to others. Commuters don't pay
bus fares for this kind of medicore service.
In my opinion, buyng of new buses are more costly than
refurbishing the existing fleets. As long as they can still running
on the road perfectly, why not refurb the buses and extend their
lifespan extension.
I am not siding SMRT, but SBST just killed off lots of 'precious
life' of Merczs, MK3s and Leylands just to make way for new buses.
This method might be too costly liao. Furthermore, they can be
still running on the road unless they can't be saved due to engine
problems etc....
If you thought of this way, then SBST must have done a very good
job in maintaining these buses all these years. What they have done
has already done, extending their operational services as long as
they can. But it is LTA final decision to scrap all the above
mentioned buses, as long as they do not pass the LTA inspections.
If LTA say no, what can they do?
And commuters are also complaining about these old buses, just
look into service 138 fiasco. If there is still no newer buses on
it, sooner or later, regular commuters again will complain about
the old Merc buses again. As bus fans, we appreciate them but not
to the general public. At the the very comfort we get is that they
are still so well maintained all these years, even if it is not the
best.
Lastly, they have to meet the WAB status quota. So who to blame
for killing off these buses? LTA.
Wow, you must really hate SMRT Buses to the core, huh?
The statutory lifespan of public buses in Singapore is 17 years.
You can't simply scrap or sell the buses if they still can be
operated. Similarly to the trains, they refurbished the first
generation trains instead of buying new ones simply because it
makes economic sense.
Besides, who is going to buy the buses? Will they still be worth
their original market value when it was first purchased?
It's not as simple as selling off the old ones and using the
money gained to buy new ones. There are rules to abide by.
Procedures must be in place, otherwise, things will go
haywire. Running a business isn't as simple as it looks.
SBS Transit didn't sell off their old buses just because they're
buying new ones. While still running the old buses, they bought new
ones also. Take a HDB flat for an example. You want to make money
and you sell off your HDB flat. You think the procedure takes one
day only? No, it will drag on. There are papers to be filled up,
you have to go down to HDB for appointment. This is Singapore. As
you know, Singapore has an extensive system of doing things. There
are laws we must abide by, otherwise, we'll land ourselves in hot
soup.
However, i do admit that SMRT Buses could have expedite on
building a fourth depot or even expanding their current ones if
they want to expand their fleet.
If however, you feel that you can contribute greatly to the
future of SMRT Buses, join them as a staff. Or even better, compile
your thoughts and write to the top management and even the CEO
herself.
You put things too simply, that's what I can comment.
They make profits annually, yet refuse to upgrade their
standards. Some of their buses are already 17 years old, and in
very bad condition because of their poor maintenance, yet they
refuse to buy new ones to replace. Spend money refurnishing them
and claim to be new. How ironic.