NUS/NTU bus services need improvement
I feel that the bus services in NUS and NTU are not adequate. Only
179 and 199 penetrate into NTU, and NTU students can only go to NTU
via Boon Lay only. As for NUS, the west side (e.g. Arts, SDE,
Engin, etc) has access to a number of buses such as 96, 151, and
other services serving Kent Ridge Terminal. However, the east side
(science, medicine, etc) has very poor accessibility as it is only
served by 95 (the frequency of 95 sucks and the bus is always
overcrowded during peak hours). Student can take 97, 197, 198 or
963 and alight along AYE, but the walking distance between the bus
stop and the nearest building is far.
If you notice, the buses penetrating into NUS and NTU are all
operated by SBS... If I'm working for SMRT, I will probably steal
some market share and improve the company image by introducing new
routes...
For NTU, there should be a service to Choa Chu Kang via PIE and
KPE, or a service to Bukit Batok via PIE, Bukit Batok Road and BB
West Ave 3. This will facilitate students and staffs living in the
North and Northwest and eliminate the need for them to travel all
the way to Boon Lay and "squeeze" with other people on
179/199.
For NUS, I would love a service between Kent Ridge and Harbourfront
via Kent Ridge Crescent, Lower Kent Ridge Rd, AYE, Alexandra Rd,
and Telok Blangah Rd (especially after the opening of Vivocity...
LOL). Maybe this service can extend westwards from Kent Ridge to
Boon Lay via AYE, or northwards from Kent Ridge to Woodlands via
Clementi Rd, PIE and BKE, or combine with 189 to form a service
from Bukit Batok to Harbourfront... Or the service can extend
eastwards from Harbourfront to Marine Parade and Bedok South via
ECP, or extend to Shenton Way and combine with 70 or 130 or 162 or
400 or 402....
If SMRT or SBS is too lazy to introduce new services to NTU or NUS,
the least they can do is to improve the frequency of 95. I have
been suffering on 95 almost every day for the past 3 years and so
far I never see any improvement... Currently, the frequency of 95
is around 8-15 minutes, which can be unbearable and unacceptable
during peak hours... (Unlike 179, 95 cannot use double-deckers due
to low bridges along Lower Kent Ridge Rd.) I feel that SBS doesn't
seem to understand the NUS lesson timetable very well. Lessons
normally start at 8am, 9am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm, and
students tend to reach Buona Vista MRT 5-30 minutes before the
lessons. So SBS should improve the frequency to 3-4 minutes during
0730-0800, 0830-0900, 0930-1000, 1130-1200, etc etc, and they can
stick to their normal (slow) frequency outside these times...
Recently, NUS introduced a free shuttle service between the Kent
Ridge Campus and the Bukit Timah Campus (BTC1). Although BTC1 is
fast and it is free, one thing I don't like about BTC1 is that it
skips Lower Kent Ridge Rd (science, medicine, computing, NUH).
Hence, if I want to go to the Bukit Timah campus from science
faculty, I need to take a bus to Central Library and change to
BTC1... It will be nice if NUS can amend BTC1 to serve Lower Kent
Ridge Rd, or NUS can extend service C or D from science to Bukit
Timah campus. Haha.