Hmmm... sometime back I came here and recommended the Dennis
Trident buses; someone busted in and disagreed with me. Now I can
understand why.
Yesterday I took SBS 9683X on route 64, and when I saw the
standard of maintenance on the bus, I was really disappointed.
First of all, the door closing chime no longer works properly
(doesn't light up, out of tune); the bus stopping bell has also
become inaudible from the lower deck, and is set incorrectly
(four-tone instead of the standard two-tone). The bus' floor also
looked really dirty, as if someone spilled some kind of sticky or
dirty liquid and all the dirt is allowed to stick to it (yuck!).
Some of the panelling around the wheel arches and the flight of
steps were coming off, and one of them had disappeared altogether!
The engine was also really loud and booming (especially obvious
from the lower deck), and was not the smooth, quiet, and powerful
ones I have come to expect from the Dennis Tridents.
From the exterior, the rear engine cover and panelling on the
bodywork also looked rather dirty (for such a newer bus); it also
looked slightly "banged-up" and out of shape.
The few things I'm sastified with were: the lightning (luckily,
all of them were still pale-yellow bulbs, unlike some other buses
that have a odd mix of white and yellow light bulbs - though I
think at least one of them is missing for the upper deck); the seat
counter, which was still working fine; the seats, which looked to
be in good condition, and the LED displays, which seemed to be in
proper working order (heard one of the Dennis Tridents had been
refitted with ill-fitting Cool-Air LEDs).
It's really quite saddening to see such a fine bus - probably
one of the finest on our roads - being mantained this way. Have the
stresses of the economy, the selfishness of Singaporeans and their
resistance to paying higher fares (which could had translated into
more funding for the maintenance of the buses) , and corner cutting
on SBS Transit's part, resulted in all of this?
