Which road to ply?

tranquilice SG

1. Services 131, 167, 186, 700 and 970 use Cecil St while the other services use Robinson Rd. What decided that these 5 services use Cecil St? Can't services 131, 167 and 700 be amended to use Robinson Rd as there are more passengers there?

2. Services 7, 32, 51, 61, 63, 80, 145, 197, 851 use North Bridge Rd while services like 2, 12, 33, 62, 130, 133, 960 use Victoria St. Services 61, 103, 166, 197 use South Bridge Rd instead of New Bridge Rd. Services like 147 and 190 use the entire stretch of New Bridge Rd while services like 124, 174, 851, 961 use New Bridge Rd only after turning from Upper Cross St.

What decided that which services use this road and which services use the other road?

3. Service 130 use Coleman St but return via Bras Basah Rd, and use Ophir Rd but skip Rochor Rd to use Kitchener Rd. Service 131 use Serangoon Rd and Rangoon Rd but skip Rangoon Rd, Kitchener Rd and Jln Besar in the other direction. Service 961 and 980 use North Bridge Rd and Jln Sultan instead of contiuning via Crawford St and turning right into Beach Rd. Service 980 use Bencoolen St towards Lor 1 Geylang, but on the return trip, instead of using Selegie Rd, it use Victoria St, Rochor Rd and Rochor Canal Rd.

Why do those service use this road but on the return trip, instead of using the same road, have to use another road?

service_238 SG

In responce to Victoria St section, generally New bridge Rd Terminal-bound & Outram Rd-bound services use this road. As for 133, it used to ply North Bridge Rd before it was amended to loop at Marina Centre instead of terminating there. I'm not sure of 130.

As for 124 174 851 961 turning from Upp Cross St is because they served City Hall MRT Station directly for commuters to make easy transfer to these and other services that ply that segment.

Services 143 147 ply new bridge rd as to have a so-called 'backbone' for Kg bahru rd/Bt merah-bound buses. Some commuters need not walk all the way to south bridge rd just to take a bus to those places.

One main reason of the staggering buses along the Victoria St/Chinatown areas is to group buses with either a simliar origin/destination/passenger load. (i.e Orchard Rd & Eu Tong Sen St Bus Stops)

Service 130 131 are 'weird' services. Svc 130 ply kitchener rd area is because of the residential area there. The Shenton Way-bound 130 could not serve there due to road constraints on Syed Alwi Rd.
Service 131 ply Cambridge Estate area to serve the residents there. The St. Michael-bound 131 need to turn at Rangoon Rd instead of Bt Timah is because there's no 'return road' for Dorset Rd.

As for 961 and 980 in the Jln Sultan area, their route was like this before Crawford St Terminal was closed down and these services were extended to Gey Lor 1 Terminal. I think that TIBS has no intention of amending these routes after it was closed.

SBS9818A SG

Historical reasons. Remember Victoria St used to be one-way going towards the east, so services then had to use North Bridge Rd.

service_238 SG

For Svc 63, maybe SBST let 33 & 63 work hand in hand to bring people from Victoria St & North Bridge Rd respectively to Outram Rd and Tiong Bahru Rd. lol...

For Svc 131, i think SBST designed the route from St. Michael's terminal and was trying to find a return route. Another reason could have been there's a demand of a bus service from the Rangoon Rd shophouses to a nearest MRT station - Novena then.

All these are just speculations, apparantly we have no idea how on earth LTA/Transitlink/PTC/Bus companies stagger bus stops. Confused

tranquilice SG

Yes. Same for New Bridge Rd, it used to be a one-way road towards Hill St. So buses during that time used Eu Tong Sen St to enter Upp Cross St while others going to Stamford Rd/Victoria St used New Bridge Rd.

tranquilice SG

Service 131 orginally is a loop service from Shenton Way terminal to Rangoon Rd/Dorset Rd estate. Its route during that time is all one-way in that estate. Later, it was extended to be Shenton Way - St. Michael's, and SBST has a problem with 2-way route in that estate.