From The Straits Times Forum

sinicker SG

IF SOME commuters in the latest public-transport survey think that waiting 15 to 20 minutes for a bus is frustrating, just let them try taking the SBS 200 service which plies between Holland Road and the West Coast.

It takes half an hour to arrive and then crawls along as if all its passengers were retirees who have all the time in the world to get where they are going.

To make things worse, the aircon is switched on in the cooler hours of the morning and off in the blistering heat of midday.

If any services needed a major revamp it is this and service 51.

With the general view that public transport is sadly lacking in efficiency, is it any wonder why more people are resorting to owning cars?

Ralph S. Lesslar

gee. i think this guy needs to know a lot more abt service 200. demand is not that much, except during certain times and South Buona Vista Rd is already winding and this guy expects the bus to go fast. for the aircon issue, i don't know.

oooohh.. 51 needs a major revamp..

comments please.

brotherchen1982 SG

If Some commuters in the latest public-transport survey think that waiting 15 to 20 minutes for a bus is frustrating, just let them try taking the SBS 200 service which plies between Holland Road and the West Coast.
Please correct Ralph S. Lesslart : 200 ply from Kent Ridge Ter - Holland Dr(Loop). Evil or Very Mad

Also there is timetable of svc 200 put up at the bus stop if I'm not wrong as some svc like 186 had been taken down.

Either he didn't notice it or he don't know SBST had already come up with printable timetable of svc 200 online.

The demand is not that high during off-peak hrs, since I took svc 200 near NUH along South Buona Vista Rd aft visting my relative bef going back to Science Pk 2 for my attachment during morning off peak period & I 'm the only one on bus. Razz

As South Buona Vista Rd got so many sharp bend & is a narrow rd, the BC has to drive the bus slowly along this rd to avoid any unecessary accidents, yet he demand svc 200 to speed up. Cool

To make things worse, the aircon is switched on in the cooler hours of the morning and off in the blistering heat of midday.
In the morning, it is much cooler as there is not much sunshine yet so if a person board an air-con, he would feel the air-con is too cold for him as our skin is sensitive to change in temperature.

Maybe he got fever or he scare got mosqutios will bite him. Laughing

He may felt feverish as he had been waiting for svc 200 under blistering heat of midday even tough he is under shade. Rolling Eyes

If not, let him take a NAC svc 200 in the morning & an AC svc 200 in the afternnon & see what he has to say. Smile

If any services needed a major revamp it is this and service 51.
Svc 51 is one of the old svc in S'pore.
Last time even worst as svc 51 terminates at old Hougang South Int bef shorten to Hougang Ctrl.

Many people have been calling for the revamp of svc 51 & 66. Hope SBST either to shorten it or go semi-express with new svc covering the affected route. Laughing

My uncle(now svc 98 BC) used to be a svc 51 BC also said every time he took abt 2hrs 30mins to 3hrs to reach Hougang South during peak periods. Rolling Eyes

sinicker SG

i cant help but think this ralph guy is a rich, demanding fellow living around Pasir Panjang.. Laughing

muziq bus SG

Pampered Singaporeans...
they think its easy to run a bus company..
Both services he quoted are in his area..
51...no comments

brotherchen1982 SG

He let others Singaporean think those living in Pasir Panjang area are all rich & have cars Evil or Very Mad

Why didn't himself own a car and complain abt buses??

Apex-LW'21 SG

Owning a car saves him money on public transport.

iveco SG

Svc 14 & 51 BCs are the most unlucky fellows.

sbst275 SG

Actually, think they have pointed at the wrong places

Sv 200 frequency is abt 30 mins if they never go notice, so what has happened aft SBS came with this e - timetable?

Also, there is really no reason for buses to be late other than accidents. Those jams are the usual ones, so by right, the timetable should reflect this. As for overloading, in the 1st place many buses are already having this prob, anyway, overloading has violated traffic laws.

The places they have pointed wrongly is abt asking abt the duopoly, in fact, chances are, if there are compeition, there would be cherry picking of rts

Apex-LW'21 SG

The Sv 200 e-timetable might not be accurate, subject to frequency.

sbst275 SG

Actually, accurate? No one bothers to check, why talk abt it? This forum articles has shown that no point having these iniatives

Anyway, that's why our sv ind is on the decline. Bo chap customer attitude

Apex-LW'21 SG

no time to check sv 200 timetable on the SBST website for some passengers.

sinicker SG

that e-timetable is just a rough guide. it's not to be used like a Bible or something.

sbst275 SG

Actually if we wanna talk abt traffic conditions, we cannot believe them fully

If the jam is regular, they should make the timetable to reflect this

cavinkoh SG

just take a taxi lah and then you can tell the uncle what ever you like and where ever you wish to go, at any time and all that stuff. cheaper than a car

Apex-LW'21 SG

A taxi flag-down rate is $2.40, every 225m for the 1st 10km will charge 10¢. A taxi is not cheaper than a car.

SBS9818A SG

10 cents for every 225m for the first 10 km. Apex, don't know what you're talking about, don't post.

Apex-LW'21 SG

Just to add-on, every 200m thereafter or less after 10 km is 10¢.

iveco SG

Originally posted by Apex-LW'21:

A taxi flag-down rate is $2.40, every [b]225m for the 1st 10km will charge 10¢. A taxi is not cheaper than a car.[/b]

Have you considered how much it would cost to maintain a car?

SBS1908B SG

That fellow is just speaking without thinking. AC switched off in the day?

BusObserver SG

After some observations, the following is one of the main reasons for long waiting time during peak hours:

For example, four buses are depart about 5 minutes interval and to reach a popular bus stop at 6.05, 6.10, 6.15 & 6.20 pm respectively.

The bus captains will leave terminal a few minutes earlier than the schedule time, driving faster and aviod stop at bus stops by hiding right behind the bus in front so commuters can't see the bus number.

So the first three almost empty buses are arrived almost at the sme time before 6.05 pm of the popular bus stop before large crowd of commuters arrive at the bus stop, so most of the commuters can only catch the forth bus, which is overload with peak hour crowd and arrive onlymuch later after the scheduled 6.30 pm.

So the same thing happens again & again, before 6.05 pm, many empty buses and you can see two or three same number buses arried at the same time, 6.05 to 6.30 pm very few buses, after 6.30 pm, very crowded buses arrived.

This is daily cat & mouse game and the bus captains always win and another typical example of Singapore services.