"Aren't firms subsidised for fare concessions?" TODAY 11/05

sbst275 SG

On Page 46 of TODAY 11/05/06

Letter from reader Damon Tan

If so, they should deploy aircon buses on long routes popular with students

I refer to the May 8 reply from Transitlink, "Fare concession rests on other factors too". Ms Kathryn Lau said that teritary students do enjoy concession privileges through monthly concession passes.

However, I would like to point out that these concession may not be fully enjoyed by some students.

It is common to see students squeezed into sardine - packed non - airconditioned buses plying between housing estates and teritary insitutions. Take service 151 from Hougang to the National University of Singapore via Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The journey takes more than an hour. Imagine being trapped in a furnance for that long.

Yet we see mostly airconditioned buses being used to ply feeder service routes, in which most of the commuters spend less than 15 minutes on the buses.

One possible reason for this disparity that I can think of is, as Ms Lau has said, that the public bus and train service are provided on a commerical basis. Hence it makes more sense for the transport companies to have airconditioned buses plying feeder service routes for which most commuters pay the full fare.

It is not difficult to see that it does not make much economic sense for air - conditioned buses to ply the so - called 'teritary insitution' routes, as the majority of the commuters are students who pay $52 for the monthly bus concession pass that allows unlimited travel on basic fare bus services.

In this case, if the subsidy is granted to the transport companies was based on the concessions that are granted to students travelling on airconditioned buses, are the students then fully enjoying the concessions supposedly granted to them?

Perhaps the relavant body could shed some light on how the transport companies are subsidised for the concessions granted to students - TODAY

sbst275 SG

I think I have mentioned bef, feeder svs even 238, should never be given priority for FAC svs.

Only when trunk svs all are aircon deployed, the excess buses can be deployed to the feeder services

I have seen 151, at times abt 15 - 20 passengers can't board the arriving bus at Crown Ctr in the morning, of course SBS will just deny of this...

Another thing is, for using NAC buses, aren't they making profits on svs like 74, 90, 94, 151, 182, 193 when passengers are forced to buy aircon stamps?

This issue has been long overdued, needless to say this teritary bus fare issue Rolling Eyes , in fact the that page 46, today is all on the teritary fare concession issue

^tamago^ SG

good letter. at this point in time, i'm on his side. but we'll see what sbs transit has to say. Very Happy

sbst275 SG

Must be the same like the prev complain at ST, the non aircon buses will be retired once new buses comes in and 90% of the fleet in SBS is airconditioned buses Laughing .. Macham Fax machine like that

pierre^^ SG

stupid 151 has more non aircon than air con. SO UNBEARABLE

105090 SG

it will be better of 151 NAC is the doublr decker VO2x, at least spacious, more legroom, cooler, brighter etc, good for long journeys

SBS9889U SG

The worse ting i experience would be MK2 WA NAC on Sv151 during PM Peak towards HG, i would rather take other alternatives.

brotherchen1982 SG

Take svc 74... Laughing

sbst275 SG

No choice if your're from NUS Laughing

151, the only sv to go beyond serving up to the nearest MRT Stn like 95 and 96

SBS9889U SG

Walk to Kent Ridge Ter then you have more choices.

sbst275 SG

But still to Central and Bt Timah, there's still only 151 Laughing

10 or 33 still mainly serves the East corridor

^tamago^ SG

no.... first, vo2x cannot climb kent ridge (dun think so la), then vo2x is stuffy at the lower saloon...

sbst275 SG

Sit at upper deck Cool

SBS9889U SG

Solution to Bukit Timah
Service 95 -> Service 48 (Most AC but long frequency though)
Service 96 -> Service 52/154/156(Most AC)

Hopefully the MK2 WA NACs faster get scrapped so that AC buses can come in Laughing

sbst275 SG

Sv 52 cannot get to Bt Timah leh

Apex-LW'21 SG

or better still, the Mk2 NACs should deploy on JIS services like 246 and 249, since these 2 JIS service have full NAC DD fleets. Laughing

^tamago^ SG

i dunno if it can tahan peak hour crowd....

sbst275 SG

Ind Svs last time all used LO2x when it was around

Simply because the peak hr demand is too high at some time length

Volvo Olympian SG

why not? Laughing

at most , those ppl all heated loh inside the bus Mr. Green

bring a towel before taking the NAC Buses

sbst275 SG

It stinks like crazy having taking a overloaded NAC SD Mad

Worst, some buses have a very strong smoke smell, making you sleepy