CW3: Jurong East Int - Larkin/Kota Raya II Ter

last SG · 2005-08-13T02:37:19+00:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think anyone can walk into Tuas checkpoint to take a bus from there. I think passengers have to board the bus before it ent...

hseochin SG

About SMRT (TIBS) vehicles, based on my more recent trips aboard their buses, i noted the situation is now more 'down to earth' in that no more condensation on glass areas & air-con blower not excessively windy & more quiet as such & the interior temperatures now within acceptable ranges.
The air-con compressor cuts-in only when cooling required again & this also makes for a quieter ride since the compressor (hence drony noise) is not (wastefully) kept ON all the time. That's more like what i experienced onboard HI's buses & most outstation coaches & that's what it should be !

Don't know if you've noticed how silent the air-con can be on coaches from KL to JB or SGP from quite a few operators ?? That's because they all bother to set it properly i.e. just cool enough & not over breezy the same time as too much wind blowing also no good as it dries up the skin faster causing discomfort of another kind !

As for writing to THOSE papers, i don't find it too different than if i write it here ! That's because afterall, both are essentially still forums just that it's on paper there while it's paperless here instead. Both would still get read utimately by the public & even their own staff as i'm NOT that naive to believe that NONE ?? of the staff from the major transport operators here would know of the existence of this bus forum & not read the posts here ?!?? Afterall, they are in the bus industry & it's really in their interest to bother to least take some 'glances' @ what's happening in this bus forum so therefore not likely @ all that they can claim ignorance to the existence of this forum & the posted material contained within it.

Another good reason to me why i dislike writing to THOSE papers is because i value my privacy & as such don't like to disclose my name, IC#, address, phone etc. & etc. just over 1 letter !! I don't need the whole world to know my real name (or who i am for that matter) i'm most glad they just take note of what i've got to say & act (positively) upon it ! That's good enough for me. I reject this idea of theirs that in order for them take one's letter 'seriously' etc. they 'need' to know the real name of the writer !! That's rubbish to me. I expect them to evaluate one's feedback based purely on the merits of the feedback & NOT be sidetracked as to bother WHO is writing the feedback ! As if it's someone 'important' writing then they take it seriously else if it's just some nobody making noise, then they don't take it seriously ?!? Obviously that cannot make sense & must never be so !

hseochin SG

Setpoint @ 25.5 Celcius ? i believe the actual interior temperatures of quite a number of those here only from 15 to 20 Celcius !! Ridiculous say the least.
Not only wasting more fuel, but more wear & tear on the compressor as @ such temperatures, the compressor NOT likely have any chance to rest so is working almost 100% the time, which also makes the interior much noisier than necessary due to the drony noise it makes especially when the engine speeds rises !

Those like to rely on whatever 'SMART automatic' type of air-con controls high time they wake up to the reality of the limitations in the real world ! They need to realise that ultimately human intervention by the driver IS still necessary to get the most sensible temperatures in the interior.

hseochin SG

Then what about the air-con controls on taxis ??
I'm sure they can entrust the taxi drivers to set sensibly the air-con so that's it's never too far out of acceptable range ??

So to me it's the same principle. If they can trust the taxi drivers to handle the air-con on the taxis 'properly' (no good reason why not !) then they are also expected to be able to entrust the bus drivers the same responsibilities for them to make sensible adjustments as when needed on the buses they drive !

Some people need to wake up to the seeming fact that SMART automatic controls still have their limitations & as such not really that SMART enough yet compared to human manual fine-tuning adjustments to produce acceptable temperatures ! Otherwise there won't be such ridiculous situations of people wearing jackets inside air-con buses with condensation so bad that wipers have to be used...on a fine sky nite !

hseochin SG

There won't be complains IF these automatic stuff work to what's theorically expected from them BUT in the real world, that's often not the case so human manual fine-tuning would still be necessary.

The_Bus_Guide SG

I rode CW3 from Kotaraya II today and got quite a shock. From earlier posts I understand that the trip form Jurong East to Kotaraya is S$3.00. I was dumbstruck when I found that the return trip costs RM7.50! Shocked Shocked Shocked (At first I thought that the driver was joking but he's not!) Perhaps that explains the lack of passengers going into Singapore. So, I'd like to hear some views about this.

hseochin SG

I was also somewhat surprised when told of the RM 7.5 fare from Kota Raya to Jurong East Interchange. But they reasoned it by saying they work out the fare on the basis of convertion from S$ fare, which i understand is S$ 3.20 from Jurong East to Kota Raya. Seems they won't be as generous as in CW2 or like SJE & blindly consider the same numerical amount like S$ 2.4 or RM 2.4 in those cases. Understandable in view of the huge distances of this route which i believe is much longer than that covered by CW1, CW2, SJE, SBST 170 or 160 !!
Also the higher toll charges of 2nd Link & JB Parkway tolls, which i noted on my trip costs ~ RM 10.30 per bus for JB Parkway alone.

From my observations, i don't think they expect the bulk of the passengers heading for Jurong East to board from Kota Raya, mainly because they know there's other potentially faster ways to reach Jurong East from Kota Raya under normal traffic conditions. They instead expect most heading for Singapore on CW3 to board somewhere down the route, like from Perling region onwards towards the West side. Therefore the fares they actually pay to Singapore would then be lower, due to the stepped-fare structure.

If you're @ Perling you're already roughly half-way between Jurong East & Kota Raya so that it then makes much sense to use CW3 instead of finding your way back to Kota Raya & switching over to SBST 160 etc. to get Jurong East.
Vice-versa for those from Jurong East heading up to say Perling area.
Only in the more exceptional situations would it be expected that people board from Singapore on CW3 & head all the way to Kota Raya end. So i suppose HI won't be too bothered of any complains of the higher fare of RM 7.5 or S$ 3.2 noting the travel profiles of most of their passengers on CW3.

BTW, what time did you take CW3 from Kota Raya ? How was the Causeway traffic situation then ? How was the 2nd Link traffic too ?

On my trip to Singapore which was in the evening (clearly off-peak time as such), noted 5 passengers including myself heading for Singapore, most got onboard only after Perling area. Dozen or so got off earlier after getting on from Kota Raya area. But saw almost half-full bus in opposite direction coming from Singapore.

105090 SG

usually it should be S$3 from singapore, RM3 from malaysia.. they playing cheat!!

hannwei SG

Hmm... There are shops of a few stories tall surrounding the central town park. As for gated compounds, there is one beside the show village, also near the central town park. Other gates visible from the potential routes probably do not look high class enough. Will have to wait until I have returned home to figure out the route. Thanks.

I think you should be able to make out something from my description since you should know that area better. By the way, are the semi-d & bungalows in Taman Sutera completed yet ?? Might just want to buy 1 unit there for self occupation later !

There are new houses and new shops at Taman Sutera Utama. Should be close to completion now. I think they are again three-story linked houses, not semi-detached or bungalows.

The construction of semi-detached houses in Bukit Indah started quite a while ago. Might complete after another half a year. They are about five to ten minutes of walk from the show village.

hseochin SG

Since when was there any regulation from any party which stipulates that every S$ 1 must be matched to only RM 1 ?!? I recall never have such requirement.

Nowadays Malaysia already removed their US$ peg & going more free market with the currency.

105090 SG

SJE, CW1, CW2, 170 160 is pay in RM dollar for ringgit

hseochin SG

Still i have not found any legal requirements for them to match S$ 1 to RM 1.
They appeared to match in the early days for convenince because back then
the exchange rate between S$ & RM was around parity but those days are long gone !

Anyway, what i can see different of CW3 & all of the others like CW1, CW2, SBST 160 & 170, SJE is that NONE of their routes require paying high toll charges & their route distances all tend to be shorter, so CW3 is in a very different basket compared with all these ! I therefore consider it justifiable from that alone for them to charge differently.

hannwei SG

According to the news article at:

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content.asp?dt=2005-08-31&sec=local&art=0831lj01.txt

the fares are:

Jurong East --(by CW3)-> Johor CIQ : 2.00 SGD (flat fare)
Jurong East
Jurong East --(by CW3)-> Kotaraya : 3.00 SGD (flat fare)
Jurong East

Johor CIQ --(by 666)-> Larkin : 5.00 MYR (lower fare for intermediate stops)
Johor CIQ

Thus,

Jurong East

May be the bus driver was confused when he or she charged 7.50 MYR for traveling on CW3 from Kotaraya to Jurong East. This happened frequently with CW1 in the first few weeks after its service started, when bus drivers charged about 0.90 to 1.40 on different days. But then, it might also be Handal Indah that was uncertain of the reasonable amount.

105090 SG

is there the flexibility of free transfer bet 666/ CW3 at TG Kupang? cos if not, 666 seems useless

hannwei SG

Where do you intend to go to? Their routes only overlap at Jalan Skudai, between Perling Interchange (around there) and Bandar Baru Uda. There might be little overlap of fares.

hseochin SG

When i used CW3, i noted the lowest fare charged is RM 1 something, from JBCS to some nearby area before Perling. My observations suggests that CW3 is overall NOT a flat fare based service, but charges step fares based on distance to travel, like CW1 or SBST 170 or 160 etc. Also note that CW3 does call @ a few stops along the route from SGP & MY & vice-versa so therefore it's NOT an express service like SJE.

I was charged RM 7.5 from Kota Raya to Jurong East & told to keep the ticket to show in case i board another bus if the same 1 missed @ Johor CIQ.

I do believe fares for CW3 & 666 are charged independently & seperately, just as per normal when you switch from 1 service to another of the same or different operator.

hseochin SG

When i took CW3 from Jurong East recently, noted CW3 went to Gelang Patah station & told to transfer to another CW3 there ! Noted 2 CW3's on standby there. Appears to me then transfers to 666 now takes place @ Gelang Patah instead of Johor CIQ ?

Maybe that's an exceptional arrangement since it was 9 in the evening, after peak hours ? Or because 2 passengers wanted to get off @ Gelang Patah & since no 666 seen @ Johor CIQ when leaving there, the CW3 driver decided to detour to Gelang Patah to avoid those 2 having to wait for 666 ? But done @ the time expense of the dozen or so other passengers who ended up with a longer travel time of about 20 min. of which 10 min. spent waiting onboard the bus @ Gelang Patah station for nothing ! But in the direction towards Singapore CW3 didn't go into Gelang Patah, which is also expected to be so when returning from Singapore.

I don't find 666 'useless' though, because it serves those wanting to go more Northwards to Taman Sutera Utama, Taman Tun Aminah etc.

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CW3 & 666 are 2 different services. Both happen to meet @ Johor CIQ stop.
So if you intend to use 666 after using CW3, then you only pay the fare for CW3 from Jurong East to Johor CIQ. Then when onboard 666 you buy a new ticket, just like you board any other service anywhere else.

i_love_blacky SG

Nope, for CW 3, one can board at Jurong East for S$3.00 flat fare and travel on CW 666 or continue the journey on CW3 after Tanjong Kupang….not very sure on the journey back though…..as to how the fares would be from Larkin or other places

105090 SG

what i mean is, like sv160/170.. ppl can have free transfers.
means CW3 pax board from JE to TG Kupang, then say miss the CW3 and 666 comes instead.

hseochin SG

I was told HI might do some fare adjustments later, after further observations.

For now, correct it's S$ 3 from Jurong East to anywhere down the route towards Kota Raya i.e. S$ 3 even if you go to say Perling Mall.

This S$ 3 ticket can be used to continue on route 666. If going to say Angsana Plaza, was told either CW3 or 666 would both stop by there.

For CW3 from Kota Raya to Jurong East however, was told boarding fare reduced in steps the closer one boards towards Jurong East i.e. if board from Perling Mall fare is less than if boarding from Kota Raya etc. if going to JE.
If from Kota Raya to Danga Bay then only RM 1 something.

For 666, fare varies according to distance as per normal i.e. higher if further distance.

hseochin SG

Was told recently the SGP to KL route starting end of this month.

In both photos it's M-B with HI's own bodywork with lampsets from the Travego.

Model-wise, from my latest observations & findings, most certainly HI uses the
O 500 M-1725 (i.e. CBC) for CW3 & some other within JB routes like the kampong-roof bus , 333 or 22 etc. But likely 'derated' from Euro-3 to Euro-2 to make it cheaper to buy since the usage routes tend to be shorter distance hence lower fares type where profits margins may not be so good.

But on the JB-KL route, then expect the O 500 R-1632 (i.e. IBC) for some units.
But as the fares charged higher for this route due to this being outstation service, the margins expected more too so also possible the O 500 R-1830 be used, which also uses the OM 926 LA but in Euro-3 version with 305 BHP.

For SGP to KL route, as fares likely to be higher still compared to JB to KL route,
i'll expect only the Euro-3 versions be used like O 500 R-1830, if not some higher end model up to 400 BHP, continuing with HI's recent trend of newer & higher end M-B models ahead of almost any operator in Singapore & Malaysia.

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