21 Bus Services Improved, 255 More Weekly Bus Trips Added
As part of the ongoing quarterly review process involving the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and public transport operators, SBS Transit and SMRT, 21 bus services have been improved between July and September 2011.
These improvements include deploying higher capacity buses or adding more bus trips to better match demand as well as to increase frequency and capacity along sectors that experience consistent heavy ridership. (Please refer to the Annex for a list of these bus services). In total, 255 more weekly bus trips have been added in the latest quarterly review.
SBS Transit has improved 15 heavily-utilised bus services in this round of improvements. More bus trips have been added to six bus services (43, 48, 131, 183, 200 and 410) while more double-deck buses have been deployed on eight bus services (58, 60, 95, 168, 186, 243W, 291 and 249) during morning and evening peak hours. SBST has also added more bus trips on Service 158 between Aljunied Station and Tanjung Rhu during the morning and evening peak periods.
SMRT has added more buses and trips to six heavily-utilised services. On Service 922 and 966, one more bus has been deployed on weekdays and weekends. A higher-capacity bendy bus has also been deployed for Service 969 during peak periods. On Service 971E, one bendy bus has been deployed during the morning peak period and two more bus trips were introduced during evening peak hours to better serve Bukit Panjang residents travelling home from the Central Business District (CBD).
In addition to these improvements, SMRT added a "halfway on service bus trip" on Service 106 to increase capacity for commuters travelling from Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 to the Shenton Way Terminal during the morning peak period. Additional trips on Service 962 have also been deployed during weekdays this round.
With this latest round of improvements, the number of unique bus services that have been improved since the quarterly review process was formalised in June 2010 stands at 74, with some bus services having been improved multiple times.
Mr Colin Lim, LTA's Group Director for Vehicle and Transit Licensing, said: "As part of the ongoing review process, we are pleased to announce further enhancements to public bus services. The bus operators have rolled-out a high number of bus service improvements this quarter. LTA will continue to work closely with the bus operators to meet commuters' travel needs."
Mr Gan Juay Kiat, SBS Transit Chief Executive Officer, said: "Commuters' travel patterns change all the time. This is why we are constantly monitoring demand for our services and try our best to make changes to bus schedules and frequency to better meet our customers' needs. We will continue to do more."
Ms Kang Huey Ling, Vice President, SMRT Buses Ltd said, "SMRT continually monitors demand of our bus services and we have been improving capacity for services with high demand. Following our earlier improvements to 10 services this year, we are now enhancing the capacity of six more bus services. We remain committed to improving our services to make public transport a choice mode for commuters."
Source from SBST Website.
Service 70 is not mentioned inside the list, the 2 Wrights might be replacing 2 other perms (not able to confirm).