Aug 1, 2009
80% of services must arrive every 10 minutes during peak periods
By Yeo Ghim Lay
COMMUTERS can expect a shorter wait for buses from Saturday, as
a stricter service standard for bus operators kicks in. At least 80
per cent of bus services must now come not more than 10 minutes
apart during peak hours on weekdays, down from 15 minutes.
Feeder bus services, which link heartland estates to MRT
stations and bus interchanges, will be held to a higher standard:
At least 85 per cent of them must come not more than 10 minutes
apart during rush hours on weekdays.
The new standard does not apply on weekends and during off-peak
hours.
The Public Transport Council (PTC), which tracks the
performances of bus operators SBS Transit and SMRT, said on
Saturday that the two companies were ready to meet the new
standards. To do so, the operators have had to roster more bus
trips each week, buy buses and hire more drivers.
Four in 10 bus services - or 109 out of the 261 basic bus
services now running - will have their waiting times shaved to fall
in with the new requirements, the PTC said on Friday.
Not all services are required to run at the raised frequency of
every 10 minutes because some operate on routes with low demand, a
PTC spokesman explained.
Traffic conditions elsewhere may also upset bus frequencies, he
added.
To cut the waiting times of the 109 services, the bus operators
are running 1,300 more trips during the weekday rush hours each
week. They have also deployed 116 new buses on the roads since
early this year, and hired more bus drivers.
SBS Transit will spend $147 million on 400 new buses this year
and has hired 200 bus drivers in the last two months. SMRT spent
$25 million on new buses last year and will buy 66 more, said SMRT
Buses' vice-president Kang Huey Ling.
Overall, the average frequency of the services will be raised by
18 per cent, and carrying capacity by 24 per cent.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak, chairman of the Government Parliamentary
Committee for Transport, is pleased that bus waiting times are now
shorter. 'But while it's good to have such guidelines, bus
operators must make sure that they translate into a difference that
commuters on the ground can feel,' he said.
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits
Times
In the full report,
SMRT says Service 970 will be redeployed on a 10 minute frequency
during weekday peak hours instead of the current 16 - 19
minutes.
SBST on the other hand says Service 235 and 272 wil come on a 10
minute frequency instead of the current 13 - 15 minutes.
Lets do massive cameo spotting tomorrow. We might see lots of split
shifts coming up during peak hours! =)
Wonder which other services will get extra buses besides 235, 272
and 970.
