Hi Mr. randomguy,
Yes, it might seem to make sense that people prefer
CBD-directional journeys, hence preferring to take 43/43M. However,
leaving a complete new BTO estate (i.e. Buangkok Crescent estate
with approx 2000? households shifting in) with just one service to
Hougang MRT, which is 10 bus stops + many traffic lights away (with
AM/PM traffic I would presume it takes 15-20minutes) is pretty
uncalled for, no?
I do acknowledge that it brings about useful links to Hougang 1,
which Buangkok residents never had, but do note that the residents
staying at the outer area of Buangkok estate (served by 101), as
you mentioned, have the alternative of 43 which brings them to both
Buangkok and Serangoon. But I find that it is pretty ridiculous to
have 329 as the sole service in the estate, which:
(i) isn't near the main road (Buangkok green) at all (hence NO
alternatives);
(ii) highly possibly will take a long journey to the nearest
MRT, having to ply Hougang avenue 4 with high people volume;
(iii) Buangkok MRT area obviously has lighter traffic than the
Hougang Central area which has so many buses + traffic
lights
I find that it is good, and necessary to have 329 to provide
useful links, but I don't think that it should be the ONLY service
in the Buangkok crescent area. Of course, wishing for authorities
to divert 43M inside seems like the most feasible solution, but the
other residents along Buangkok green might complain about the
frequency of relying on only 43 - but which Buangkok crescent
resident wouldn't want a direct link to Serangoon and Buangkok?
FYI, I will be shifting in to one of the BTOs as well, and I find
that a link to Buangkok and not Hougang will be the best and most
efficient solution - both to improve the utilization of Buangkok as
many have pointed out and to save the time for residents
significantly!
Especially with the lack of direct links and express services to
CBD in estates along NEL, it is only important to ensure that
residents have the fastest link to a train station - if Punggol/SK
can have LRTs, and existing Buangkok area residents have buses to
Serangoon and Hougang, why should the route planning division in
LTA have discounted the residents along Buangkok crescent to only
have ONE service to Hougang which is so far away? This just doesn't
make lots of sense to me. And I don't think the saving of time will
just be a meager 2-3 minutes. Let me do the math for you:
Buangkok Crescent - Dhoby Ghaut (example)
329 Buangkok crescent - Hougang MRT : estimated time
during AM peak - 20 minutes with traffic conditions etc
Hougang - Dhoby - 17 mins
total : 37 mins
Assuming a new service that links to Buangkok MRT directly from
the new Buangkok Link area being built, I'm pretty sure it will
only take 8-10 minutes - assuming it only passes by say 4-5 bus
stops
Buangkok - Dhoby - 19 mins
total: 27-29 mins
Please note that the only walkable alternative is for residents
to walk to Gerald drive area to take bus 50 to AMK or 70/103 to
Serangoon (500 meters walk away which isn't very near at all for a
bus stop). Everyday this saves residents potentially 20 mins for a
2-way trip and clearly this is much more efficient. I know that I
might be the only one wishing for the stars here by hoping that a
service can be introduced to link to both Serangoon and Buangkok,
but I really do hope that authorities will consider the needs and
importance of providing a link to the nearest MRT, or else I can't
imagine how bad the crowd will be like on 329 and Hougang MRT when
all the houses are built finish (around 3Q 2018). Thanks.
Hi mr sgxiaobusguy, they did not say service 329 is the only new
service to buangkok link/crescent. Service 101 is also extended by
a pair of bus stops on the same day. They will keep monitoring the
public transport around the whole area and in time to come, will
slowly introduce new bus services when demand necessitates it.
Don't expect sudden launch of many new services at 1 go.
Look at fernvale area for example. In the beginning, there is
only 163/163M. Over 5-7 years now, 50, 85, 102, 374 have joined
Sengkang west area. It takes time. Cheers. Thanks.