Report:
Resorts World Sentosa Day one in operation; 11th Day for
RWS8
Along with frequents SMB 0098D and SMB 0118E, 6 more were
observed to have joined the service, all bearing the
authorised Resorts World Sentosa advertisment, as was
required by RWS in their tender. They are: SMB 0021A, SMB 0022Y,
SMB 0029D, SMB 0036H, SMB 0037E and SMB 0038C.
Changes were made to the EDS. Initially supposed to show only
"RWS 8", additional info was presented. The service number was
moved to the right, while the words "Resorts World Sentosa" was
added to show that the service plied to RWS.
Bus stop infrastructure was slightly upgraded as well. The exact
bus stop location in Resorts World Sentosa has been marked out more
clearly by the columns which had the words "SMRT Buses" and hence,
a dedicated lane for the RWS8 buses. Dedicated bus stops for
RWS8 were present, most notably the one outside Vivocity.
The number of buses added to the fleet was just right. During
the mid-afternoon, loading was high, but not to the extent
that buses were packed like sardines (I took SMB 0118E into RWS).
However, when I went out of RWS at around 1720 hrs, all
passengers were seated (I took SMB 0021A out of RWS).
During my afternoon spotting, which lasted from around 1445
hrs to 1730 hrs (note that in this point, I'm talking about what's
observed on the service itself and not Resorts World
Sentosa), the majority of the passengers were observed to be mainly
senior citizens. There were indeed some teenagers and some adults,
but children (including infants and babies in arms) did not
quite seem to form the bulk of the passengers. Interestingly,
at 1730 hrs, when I alighted from the bus, there were some
students who were in their school uniforms (also taking
RWS8) who also wanted to catch a glimpse of Resorts World
Sentosa.
Overall, thanks to the help of some last minute publicity,
the increased charges for private cars/reduced charges
for public buses into Sentosa as well as the
RWS8 signages and other infrastructure, many heeded the call to use
public transport to enter the Resorts World Sentosa. Congestion was
not a major problem for almost any bus, save for some slight
bottleneck over at Telok Blangah Rd when RWS8 buses attempted to
turn out of the Vivocity bus stop.
