That's what the SL mentioned to me when I talked to him about
the bendy part... He said that we the customers is the biggest (in
chinese), and asked me to write in to suggest for more bendies
because even off-peak period, it can be pretty packed as
well...
171 has specific waves of commuter patterns from what I
observe.
Pax volume increases from Yishun 
BPJ, city bound. When a number of the
passengers alight at BPJ the bus gets relatively empty again, until
about somewhere near Bt Timah when city-bound commuters utilise 171
again.
Orchard BPJ, during both off-peak and peak, the
pax volume can get pretty high also. Lots of commuters alight at
BPJ Plaza (and board, Yishun-bound).
Seems like the passenger crowds direct mostly to BPJ. Not
surprising to see bunchings during peak hours on both
directions.
