From ST:
THE only remaining City Shuttle Service (CSS) will be shut down
at the end of next month due to falling ridership and the
availability of alternative services.
Too few people are using service 608, said SMRT, which has been
running CSS since 2001.
Since 2000, ridership for CSS 608 has declined by about 40 per cent
'due to population shifts from the older estates to the new towns,
and the relocation of the HDB Hub from Bukit Merah to Toa Payoh',
an SMRT spokesman told The Straits Times.
She added that about seven trunk services - such as SBS buses 10,
12 and 196 and SMRT's 851 - as well as the MRT serve routes on
which 608 runs.
And despite CSS 608's tickets being cheaper by between 10 and 20
cents, this has held little attraction to commuters rushing to work
as they would board whichever bus that arrived first.
SMRT had initially planned to discontinue the service at the end of
this month, but decided to defer it by a month after grassroots
leaders in residential areas affected by the route's withdrawal
appealed.
CSS started life in 1975 as the Singapore Shuttle Bus Service, as
part of the Government's 'Park and Ride' scheme, providing a bus
link between the central business district (CBD) and outlying
residential areas.
For example, it provided connections to the CBD from housing
estates such as St Michael's, Queenstown and Sin Ming.
But over the past six years, all services except 608 have been
discontinued.
The 17 buses in the yellow-and-orange liveried service run from
Bukit Merah through Shenton Way and the National Stadium to Bedok,
operating from Monday to Saturday, 6.30am to 7.30pm.
The Straits Times took a ride on the bus last week and found that
no more than 10 commuters were on board from its starting point in
Bukit Merah to Bedok, where it ends after a nearly two-hour
run.
Several people boarded the bus along the Chinatown and Maxwell Road
stretch, near the Ministry of National Development - but not enough
to fill the bus.
So it came as little surprise when most commuters told The Straits
Times that 608's demise would not affect them greatly.
Ms Katherine Low, 35, said she likes the service as there are
always empty seats when she takes the bus from her home in Zion
Road to Bukit Merah, where she works as an accounts assistant for a
trading firm.
'But I still have alternative services to take to work, like 16 and
5, so its not that bad for me,' she said.
But administrative executive Michelle Yong, 35, will be sad to see
the iconic buses go.
She said: 'After April, I'll take another bus to get to Bukit
Merah. But it's a real pity they are stopping this service which
has served so many people well all these years.'
All CSS staff will be redeployed within SMRT after April.
