Guys, just because I went to Lee Kong Chian Reference Library
previously to read the old transitlink bus guides and share with
you two historical bus routes doesn't mean that I will keep going
there to refer to the old bus guides.
In fact, just from one trip, I already understood the rationale
for withdrawing or shortening bus routes.
Most of the former bus routes were actually absorbed into the
bus routes that we have today, otherwise have very little
significance even in today's context. There's actually no need to
know about the historical bus routes.
I have seen the former bus routes that went from Hougang to
Jurong West, Jurong West to Yishun, etcetera. They were really not
economical, and I can understand why they were taken away or
withdrawn, as all of them had very little demand and were actually
duplicating the MRT.
A trip from one town to another is actually much faster on the
MRT than on the bus. The only area that requires long-distance
connection by bus is in the North-Eastern part of Singapore,
between Yishun, Punggol, Pasir Ris and Changi as currently, there
is no MRT line that provides the direct connection between these
areas.
This is why we have bus services like 117, 118 and 129, as the
North-East Region has limited train connections, and most of the
connections within the North-East Region are actually provided
better by buses.
Likewise for the Thomson East Coast Line corridor. Once the
Thomson East Coast Line and Cross Island Line are up, we can expect
many bus routes to be withdrawn.
Furthermore, with dynamic routing coming along, where bus routes
are flexible and change according to demand, there's actually no
need for so many bus routes, or so many buses.
Just because there's no need to know doesn't mean we don't have
the right to know or discuss.
And there's actually no need to write such a long post every
time the topic changes to something you don't have interest in.