New Shortworking Trip 179A for NTU Students

last SG · 2007-09-20T22:10:32+00:00

Buses on Svc 242 this morning SBS 9140X SBS 9152L SBS 9162H

stooper SG

I agree 179A will be rather useless.

Firstly, there won't be much 179A, especially in PM peak.

If they don't want to affect 242 frequency, 4 179 buses will still x-over to 242 in PM peak, leaving 179 with just 17 buses.

If they want to maintain a 5min frequency from BNL in PM peak, they need at least 9 buses. So this leaves just 8 buses to do 179A! Not a lot!

And whether 179A will be faster depends on the BC. If got pro BC on 179, confirm will overtake 179A! Laughing

stooper SG

Yeah... Laughing Maybe they can function back as normal 179 buses, otherwise, the buses will return 100% empty back to BNL. And that won't save time either, because of the traffic lights.

stooper SG

I have a feeling it will be very complicated to see how they coordinate the 179 and 179A services together since both services I believe would have different timings for 1 round.

Like maybe
179 takes 40min schelduled
179A takes 35min schelduled

Then they will need to coordinate to ensure 179 & 179A don't depart at the same time.

And also, I think the crossover buses will more likely be doing 179A too. But come to think of it, it means they will need to carry 3 destos, and BC needs to keep changing destos.

stooper SG

Sorry, for posting consecutive posts, but I think 179A won't solve the problem.

The main problem is the extremely uneven passenger loading, traffic lights and different BC driving styles.

I believe the uneven passenger loading might be worse when 179A is implemented.
People might wait to take 179A instead of normal 179 as they would be led to believe 179A is faster.
So 179 end up very little people, 179A full to door, delaying all 179A buses, making 179A slower than 179. Laughing

Also got different BC driving styles, took 7200U to BNL on Wednesday during PM peak. He was a young Standby BC. He managed to overtake the bus in front of him.

When he stop at the 2nd (middle) bus stop of JW St63, that 1 bus overtake him back, and 4 other 179 buses chiong pass without stopping at the bus stop and overtake him. Then he shocked, suddenly talk to himself "Whoa! Five!" Laughing

SBS BUSES LOVER SG

hope for Alternate route along non stop express sector like 502 . then BC can use any route he wants to get there .

stooper SG

Maybe they should make that just the NEW svc 242, because the area along Jalan Bahar is already served well by other services like 157, 199. And usually people take 242 is to go all the way in, not to stop along Jalan Bahar.

chickenlittle2 SG

Hahaz.. Go Jln Bahar and go up to PIE , come down again Pionner Rd nth (Exit 3 Cool and turn into NTu..

kuekj SG

I was wondering if 179A can instead ply Boon Lay Way/Pioneer Road North express to NTU instead. I once took taxi (yes taxi, not bus) from Boon Lay to NTU using that route. Only took 8 minutes. Not forgetting Boon Lay Way is a wider road than JW St 63 and lesser traffic lights..

tanjun SG

Hahaz.. Go Jln Bahar and go up to PIE , come down again Pionner Rd nth (Exit 3 and turn into NTu..

from chickenlittle2

from kuekj

Both ideas are feastible in my opinion in decreasing the time needed for a trip from BNL to NTU.

However, this can act as a form of stepping stone to solve the problem of demand over supply. Increase the number of bus deployed on 179A is still my ultimate solution. Mr. Green

stooper SG

No use increasing the number of buses. The main problem is bus bunching which is caused by the reasons I posted about 6 posts above. if you average out the bus loading, then each bus only about all fully seated.

I think the fastest route to BNL from NTU (& vice versa) is to take Pioneer Rd Nth, Jurong West Ave 4, then Jurong West St 64, which is basically 192/193 route to BNL.

The Jalan Bahar/PIE route is used for AM peak down trips presently! But it wastes a lot of time. They give the bus 10min to get from BNL (16min from SLBP) to get to that down trip starting location.

Pro drivers can get from BNL to NTU using the standard route in 7-8minutes. The fastest I've seen was 5min. He must have been very lucky, with all clear traffic lights along St 63.

tanjun SG

Woah. Looks like you are familiar with how 179 operates. Laughing Perhaps 179A can use your recommended route.

kuekj SG

The bahar route is longer than the prn route.. It's about 20 minutes when I tried to take 199 from NIE to Boon Lay. for 179, Boon Lay to LWN Lib / Can A (that's what it's called now) takes about 13 minutes.

The main "dump" points Laughing of 179 in NTU are:
LWN Lib / Can A (for North Spine schools)
Sch of Comm and Info (for some South Spine schools e.g. SCI, EEE)
Innovation Centre (for the remaining South Spine schools, e.g. HSS, NBS)

Problem now is at PM peak, LWN Lib stop is overflowing and when it reaches SCI stop, it cannot take any more people. Students at South have to wait about 4-5 buses before they can board, or wait for the 5:45pm special downtrip.

stooper SG

I wonder whether the down trips from Sch of Comms studies will still exist once 179A is implemented... It might be very complicated! Shocked

stooper SG

On friday, saw that at BNL, they have pulled all the plastic yellow barricades that used to block the front of the individual berths for queuing and then connected those barricades into one long line and placed in at the curve between the 174e and 179 berths!

I think they don't want buses to load from the curve anymore. This is no good as this will worsen the bunching of 179... Shocked

Most likely, the 179 drivers will just cut in front of the 180 bendies to load now, and block the 180 bendies from departing instead. Twisted Evil

azharjj SG

So, how's the 1st day of service 179A getting along ? I didnt have time to look at it at Boon Lay... How was it ? is it going smoothly ? good or bad ? your views... Very Happy

brotherchen1982 SG

179A(PM Pack) uses normal 179 route Laughing

chickenlittle2 SG

Saw 179A still using the same old route heading to Boon Lay this morning. The 179A desto like very ugly.. Some BC just turn over the normal 179 desto and show the white portion when doing 179A this morning (Maybe short of 179A desto)..

brotherchen1982 SG

More SD than DD front desto are painted.

Btw, the 179A DD side desto is blurred when the light is on... Rolling Eyes

SBS BUSES LOVER SG

yeah , dont know why more SD Desto . maybe convert all to SD fleet , Laughing

brotherchen1982 SG

If too many DDs on 179A, ppl living along Pioneer Rd Nth/Jurong West St 63 will make noise... Laughing

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