Erm... Also depending on..
1) Service 700A and 171 last bus (as their last bus timing is
around the same), and given the alternate stops along Scotts Rd for
BS 09212 (Royal Plaza on Scotts) and BS 09213 (Thong Teck
Building), they may not be able to rush just in time to travel from
BS 09213 to BS 09212, and still, ended up either train or NR3 (or
3N for CCK only).
2) Service 502, whether their last few buses, that arrives at BS
09213 after 12am (no more Service 190 buses by then) are still
packed to the brim to the extent that it skipped that bus
stop?
3) How SBS Transit and SMRT Buses manage their scheduling of
their bus services.
4) Supply & Demand for both Service 190 and 502 (and
probably other services as well if you wanna broaden it for a wider
perspective)
As said earlier..
"I'm using 502 in comparison to 190 in terms of loading
and outgoing route from town, notwithstanding fares,
frequency and fleet size/type."
By theory, 190 is later by 4-6min than 700A/171 last bus. last
train from Orchard to the North-West is 2344 via Raffles Place
& Jurong East, 2356 via Woodlands. Miss the last 502 = take
night bus already. There's still the train (if ppl bother to walk)
if they miss the last 190/700A/171.
Though 190 may be a profitable route, its profits are used to
cover losses in other areas of SMRTB such as loss making routes?
Why not withdraw them you may ask. Reason being it would go against
PTC regulations as well as grassroot objections. By adding more P
shift only buses would require bus and driver availability. From
the looks of it manpower shortage looks partially solved with the
influx of drivers from China, there's still the bus issue. If
convert S to A/P would incur losses from the early-mid afternoon
portion. Dont forget both SBST and SMRT have to meet the PTC
guidelines of at least 80% of services having 10min freq or less.
190 way exceeds the requirements. henceforth they need to pay
attention to other services instead. In this aspect 502 is out of
the question since its a non basic service to begin with.
Your arguement seems to be focused on Friday and Saturday nights
since you mentioned Night Bus services. You should consider
spotting on Sun-Thur instead since you are on holiday until that
pink letter comes. In any case, still a micro perspective.
I do agree SMRT has tighter runtime so that things look nice on
paper but not in reality. Its like painting a beautiful picture in
your house for everyone to see but no one knows what goes into that
painting itself. This is reality.
If SMRT says 190 (and other sardine packed services) on paper
claims that the supply of their buses meet the demand, what can you
do about it?
So I would advice you to stop dreaming, wake up your idea
otherwise get yourself your own mode of transportation. I hope by
then I wont see you complaining in the Cars or Motorbike forums
that too many ERP gantries, too little parking space, parking rates
too expensive, road tax/insurance/instalment so ex etc.
