Another very pausible reason is that the Dart will be going off
soon.
Reliable, anoymous sources inside BBDEP indicate that SBST is
having some trouble maintaining the Darts as they are difficult to
service, as well as the small fleet size.
Also, the main reason for deploying these midi buses is due to the
route and the pax load. After taking 12m on svc 42 and 92, i can
confidently say that 12m can handle the tight turns very well and
can very well replace the Darts. Moreover, the mk3 i took on both
services are much better than the Darts as they climb the hills
much easily and comfortably.
Regarding load factors, mk2s and mk3s have both generated more than
enough $$ for SBST, putting them on would not cost SBST a lot more
bucks.
Next, both TIBS and SBST have a habit of parading their buses
before a few services pending their withdrawal, though the Darts
caused some kind of comical scene due to the location of the ezlink
reader.
Hence, there is sufficient evidence to belief the info is true. I
sincerely hope that these buses would not be sent to scrap or
overseas and perhaps some private operators would express interest
in buying it. After all, there are private Darts in service in
Singapore.
