Jams at Bras Basah Road, Temasek Boulevard

iamgoondu SG

This evening (at 2005h) I boarded TIBS106 at Bras Basah Road (Outside NTUC Income Centre). I alighted at Temasek Boulevard (Outside Suntec Convention Centre) at 2030h.

A whoppy 25 minutes ride which one may take 25 minutes to walk for the same distance!

Someone in this forum had ever told me about jams beyond Orchard Road (Something that I had ignored earlier), it seems it is a common sight for such heavy jams!

Anyone can verify if the jams happen on most days? happen only on friday nights? or happen only on weekends and friday nights?

Anyone can verify if for the same stretch of road they too had taken a 25 minutes ride?

If the jams are so frequent, do the bus captains feedback of such jams to their HQ?

Now understands why TIBS 106 could be so irregular.

Besides heavy traffic at that hours (due to IT Show 2004), another reason was due to the free shuttle service that spent 10-20 minutes in picking passengers at Suntec bus stop. That free shuttle service should not have picked up passengers at that bus stops, it cause jams at Temasek Boulevard.

If the jams are so frequent, did bus companies waste their resources in those jams? When PTC divert their (SBST 111, 97 and TIBS 106) routes to Suntec, are they aware of the traffic snarls at Bras Basah and Temasek Boulevard? TIBS should seriously rethink of terminating at Suntec, to skip that jams and to service a bigger catchment, rather than to stuck in a 20 minutes jam each night.

service_238 SG

Dont forget there's a presence of a construction site at the War Memorial Park for CCL. Today i've seen traffic on Temesek Blvd towards Raffles Boulevard jammed. Even a Svc 133 LO was full on the upper deck.

IT Show 2004 is definitely one of the reasons... so if you're driving, please park at Esplanade. Mr. Green

Another probable reason is the ECP slip road from Republic Boulevard is so heavily jammed. However i personally find it not logical as its quite far from Suntec Convention Ctr

iamgoondu SG

Whatever reasons, if jams is a frequent occurance in this stretch of routes, personally I do not think it is advisable to ply here.

A bus may travel 16 KM in 20 minutes! (50KM/60 x 20).

Why waste the time in a jams???

I pity those bus captains, it seems very stressful to manovere along that stretch of routes. It sesm that stretch is accident prone too.

Perhaps that may convince PTC to allow TIBS 106 to terminate back at Serangoon. Razz

tranquilice SG

Is the jam often or only occurs when there’s special events there?

iamgoondu SG

That's why I started this thread. I would like other forumers to share with me when travelling on this stretch of routes. Does it jam often?

service_238 SG

It doesnt jam often AFAIK. It only jam on special and big events like COMEX and IT Show whereby drivers are frantically finding parking space in suntec city... so if you're visiting the IT Show this weekend, pls park at Millennia Walk, Marina Centre or the Esplanade Mr. Green

Ritz Carlton would be good too. Laughing

iamgoondu SG

And LTA should stop the free shuttle bus service that ply between City Hall and Suntec to call at the bus stop.

The driver from the free shuttle bus service simply ignore the horns, and continue to hog the road bay for 10~20 minutes.

SBS9818A SG

That stretch of road only jams up when there are special events at Suntec or Esplanade.

iamgoondu SG

Then it seems I still does not have the answer why bus arrival time for TIBS106 can be so irregular.

SBS9818A SG

Probably due to jams at Orchard Rd.

off_service SG

The staggering of bus stops from Orchard to Marina and vice versa has eased the jams at bus stops.

Back in 2000, notorious Saturday "bus stop jams" can make a short journey really long before the staggerings.

I have a personal experience of taking sv 171 which took 45 mins from Esplanade bus stop to Somerset MRT.

Yusry SG

I was on service 111 from Buona Vista to Suntec just now.

Basically, the jam started from Scotts Road / Orchard Road junction. For this stretch, the cause was due to taxis turning into Lucky Plaza and cars jammed up by the jam further down Orchard Road.

The jam further down Orchard Road is caused mainly by vehicles turning into CTE and incoming vehicles from service roads trying to cut filter to the left most lane to get to CTE.

It's smooth flowing after Buyong Road / Orchard Road for the 200meters. The next jam was caused by cars filtering left to enter Oldham Lane (entrance Plaza Singapura carpark). Then it's slightly smooth flowing until we hit Bencoolen Street. Here, many vehicles filter left, right, centre, anywhere, to enter the roads at the next junction.

The biggest jam was the Suntec City jam. This needs no further explanation.

All in all, it took me 1 hr 40 mins to get to Suntec, with about 1hr 10 mins stuck in jams.

service_238 SG

IT Show right?

iamgoondu SG

It's kind of sad, bus companies amended and cut back route to suntec, with the jams, it seems the end-to-end travelling time has little different. Anyone knows TIBS had removed how many buses from TIBS106 ? It seems TIBS (even SBST) could be worst off.

Why TIBS would still like to put their resoureces into heavy jams?

SBS9818A SG

Partly due to CCL line construction diversion too right?

tranquilice SG

But LTA put in enough lanes for the traffic, so I think the jam is due to the events held at Suntec.

On Sunday, I board service 961 outside Outram Park MRT, took me 45 minutes to reach Golden Mile area.

SBS9818A SG

Jam at Marina Center right? The loop is pointless, it's like a dead end, so if the exit is clogged, the entry is bound to be so!

tranquilice SG

Correct, due to the exhibitions there. You mean the Marina Centre loop? There is demand to there, many passengers took this service to go to Marina Centre.

SBS9818A SG

The problem is, there should be more exits instead of looping the circuit.

tranquilice SG

Make the one-way roads there two-ways?