SBST Service 39 from 17 August 2003 :-)

SBS9818A SG

Yes, since Sv. 68 berth has been moved, it is a prime candidate to be removed after 3 month trial period. What you mean Mk IIIs, there is only one pathetic 700P for Sv. 68, I boarded it once for joyride, noone boarded till Industrial area, and even then there were like only 5 passengers.

off_service SG

Here are the fleet that I saw today on service 39:

SBS 750 and other 2 MK3s
SBS 886
SBS 2630
SBS 2828
SBS 2830
SBS 2831

SBS9818A SG

Still got SBS 760 and SBS 769, other MK IVs include SBS 2832, 2829, a lot of them from the later 28xx batch.

AntiDennisLance SG

Did a short bus spotting of svc 39 in Yishun this morning.

Date: 18 Aug 2003, working Monday
Time: 0830 - 0905 hrs

Vehicles spotted:

SBS 0760 R
SBS 0769 S
SBS 0847 A
SBS 0866 L
SBS 2832 R (retired at 0900 hrs)

Passenger pattern observations:

Strangely enough there are more Yishun-bound passengers (<= 2 each bus).

It dont look like there's enough pax to sustain the service if today's observation is anything to go by. I dont see 39 staying in Yishun for long if the situation dont improve in one or two month's time.

The userbase is too concentrated in one place plus not many potential passengers know about it. There are still quite a lot of sotongs looking at the 39 poster at the bus stops today. It seems like many people wont bother to look at any posters at the bus stops until they see the actual unfamiliar bus and/or they find/suspect that the service they are waiting for got withdrawn. I think 39 will have more passengers in a week's time.

Well I aint complaining anyways, at least now i have a direct bus from Yishun to the Pasir Ris chalets and White Sands Resort :p

TIB1186Z SG

Just to add, the number of Tampines bound pax yesterday was much more than the number of Yishun bound pax on TPE. You must know that although Yishun Interchange has high pax traffic, most of the pax come from the nest few bus stops, but im not insulting ur intelligence whatsoever.

Its always the case when new services are introduced. For example, look at how long svc 857 and 965 took before it had sufficient pax. My classmate, FYI, does not know 969 goes to Tampines via the expressway, or 965 goes to Sengkang, though they had been introduced for quite some time already. Anyway, the number of pax on svc 39 was more that that of service 161 that was introduced 1 year ago.

AntiDennisLance SG

I did my observation at the 2nd bus stop after Yishun Interchange (bus stop at blk 608 ). Only 2 more bus stops before the route leaves the Yishun boundary.

Maybe there could have been a higher load in the hours earlier than 9am. Dont know. Never bothered to wake up that early just to snoop at buses.

Yes people will take time to "notice" new services. But it should be better in a week's time since the potential 39 crowd is quite confined to the Loyang area. Once a few people there know, word of mouth within the industrial area should gather enough ridership relatively quickly. Even 857 had almost all seats filled going to YCK road barely 2 weeks into service although it was still quite empty when it goes up on CTE in the mornings until a few months later.

SBS9818A SG

To get passengers for Sv. 161, SBST purposely increased its headways by removing 2-3 buses, and pinning up that stupid Estimated Arrival Time card at each and every bus stop. That’s in fact the only reason why Sv. 161 operates double-decks, frequency is so bad just to accumulate passengers.

tranquilice SG

In my opinion, the route of service 39 in Tampines should not ply Tampines Ave 2, it should ply Ave 7 instead, which is more faster to reach Loyang Ave. With the current route, it took half an hour from Tampines interchange to reach Pasir Ris West Plaza.

SBS9818A SG

SBST love to extend routes to make maximum profit from commuters, make them so long passengers pay more to go where they want!

TropicalSQ744 SG

And the 969 vs. 39 saga continues...

I saw several A4 size posters being pasted in some buses and at Yishun interchange saying that 969 is much faster going to Tampines than 39..

AntiDennisLance SG

Heh. Smear campaigns eh?

Which is quite true - 39 takes one big round around pasir ris / loyang before ending up at Tampines, which basically takes about half hour making the big round, whereas 969 goes straight to the interchange.

Thats why 39 is only good for Yishunites wanting a direct ride to the Loyang industrial buildings or to the Pasir Ris chalets / Escape Theme Park / White Sands Resort. Those who want to change to other buses at Tampines are better off taking 969.

Anyway the load for 39 was noticed to have improved a bit today. And the bus frequency also increased although they are still very much empty most of the time.

SBS9818A SG

Hahah, TIBS taking potshots at SBST again. Agreed, Sv. 39 serves Pasir Ris residents and Yishunites wanting to go to Pasir Ris. For them to go to Tampines Sv. 969 is MUCH, MUCH faster. Time saved is half an hour at least.

TropicalSQ744 SG

It would have been more ironic if they pasted it right at the pillar nearest to the 39 berths! Mr. Green Afterall, who told SBS Transit to come to TIBS territory Twisted Evil

SBS9818A SG

PTC did. For TIBS to paste it at SBST berth would constitute defamation of some sort.

TropicalSQ744 SG

Ya ya, thats why they pasted it right opposite the 39 berths at the 806 berth Smile

Superbus SG

The poster appeared on TIB 858A of Service 67 today.

Cheers and warm regards

TIB1186Z SG

And I wish to clarify something.....the poster is correct if and only if the journey is made from Tampines interchange to the first bus stop after Yishun Ave 1 for it to be less than 30mins at all times, not as misleading as the poster that suggests that the trip takes less than 30mins from outside Yishun interchange to Tampines Interchange.

SBS9818A SG

Obviously lah! TIBS want to advertise Sv. 969 is much faster to Tampines than Sv. 39 to Yishunites.

TIB1186Z SG

The basis for the 'smear' campaign is not unfounded..... SBST svc 39 is really picking up passengers in the course of the week, and I am not kidding, exaggerating or anything, but the load factor of svc 39 entering Yishun Interchange is comparable to that of svc 965.

When I took a Mk III from Pasir Ris to Yishun yesterday, I was kinda shocked to find 90% of the seats taken up, and yes, even the bench seats at the front. The frequency was 10 mins, as I just missed one in front. On the express sector, 85% of the seats were taken, and when it arrived at Yishun interchange, about 20 passengers got off on average.

SBST also shrunk the frequency of the direction towards Tampines to about 9 mins during Saturday evening ( which is non-peak , following LTA's classification ), and there were about 25 pax boarding, making the queue even longer than svc 853 and 855.

The load during the non-peak hours is also rather impressive lately, with buses departing the interchange at least 25% full, and I don't have any parallax, bias or whatever error when it comes to this.

However, interestingly, the load on svc 965 had also picked up recently.

As expected, the bulk of the pax who boarded at Yishun alighted at Pasir Ris and Loyang Ave, and there was a number who then transferred at Pasir Ris Dr 1 to svc 89 to Changi Village and Changi Beach. I also did that from Changi Beach to Yishun ,and the trip took about 15 mins faster that the 19-969 combo, and for adults, it is cheaper too.

SBS9818A SG

Went spotting at Changi Beach right? Yes, of course Sv. 39 is meant to be a route for Pasir Ris residents going to Yishun and vice-versa. Good to see Sv. 39 loads improving, however outlook for double-decks on this service still look slim.

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