BRT System
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Singapore should give the BRT system a try. It is many ways superior to our current MRT train system.
1. If one MRT train on the line stalls, essentially the whole line stalls. In 2011, only 5 or so train stall on the NS line, capacity ~10,000, yet it affect over 50,000 commuters. If there are any track incursions , like people falling on track, then there will also be a major disruption. Disruptions are common and very major.
However, in BRT, if one bus fails, the whole line can continue functioning. Buses behind can simply overtake the failed bus.Only 50 or so ppl will be affected.
2. Single lane rail capacity is limited .If roads have 2 lanes, BRT capacity can double. If they have 3, then triple.
3. Intervals have to be spaced out in an MRT system. Because a train takes 1 min to stop at a station, intervals can never be shortened below 1min. However, bus stops/stations are at the side of the road, and do not affect the flow. Interval does not matter.
4. An MRT is linear, it waste 20 or more minutes in a 45 min journey because it has to stop at every station. At AM peak hours,because the majority of the stops are to pick up passengers, it wastes passengers travelling time.
However, BRT system can have express services which travel directly from town center stations, say Tampines, directly into the city, and vice versa during PM peak. Travelling time can be saved by more than half.
5. The braking of buses is better than that of train. Trains take many hundreds of metres to stop, buses only take a few 10s of metres. Trains need to be far far apart for safety, whereas you can put buses like traffic distance away from each other.
In fact, I calculate that a 2 lane BRT line can support 3x as many passengers as a MRT line:
MRT: Interval: 1:40min. 1 train, 1920 passenger, = 70,000 passenger/hour.
BRT: Interval: As low as 3s (av time between cars in heavy traffic) double decker : 100 passenger. = 120,000 passenger/hour per lane. 2 lane = 240,000 passenger/hour.
6. We can build our BRT on the ground, in fact, we can use roads we already have. To build new MRT lines they have to be underground or above ground.
7. We dont need expensive infrastructure for BRT. Just road, bus stop and bus depot (garage) can liao. No need expensive signalling, switchback, 100,000 sq m depots... And since its simpler theres less things to fail. I cannot even think about how a BRT infrastructure could fail lol.
The only cons about BRT is that it maybe pollutes more and requires more bus drivers. (Or maybe it cost more for the buses).
Maybe you guys can shed light on how much bus cost vs MRT.
But I think it shouldnt cost too much. we now have 110 MRT trains, total capacity 192,000. To seat 192,000, we need about 3800 single deck bus, maybe if double deck then 2000.
If 1 billion dollars can buy and supply 800 bus, then 5 billion dollars can supply 4000 buses, about the cost of the Downtown line.
Instead of Thomson Line, Govt can build a BRT highway instead. cheaper and more efficient.
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i prefer the status quo
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Do u tink its practical for whole island to haf buses?
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Unless the population of Singapore stays at 4 million and there are no MRT lines to start with, else BRT is a bit too late.
SBS has good intentions to introduce it in the late 90s, but LTA did not approve it. This lead to the problems we have now.
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we can have BRT along with MRT
but in terms of flexibility
MRT < BRT* < Bus
*BRT with dedicated paths
and again what types of buses?
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Originally posted by vicamour:
Unless the population of Singapore stays at 4 million and there are no MRT lines to start with, else BRT is a bit too late.
SBS has good intentions to introduce it in the late 90s, but LTA did not approve it. This lead to the problems we have now.
should have started it earlier ...
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Still prefer MRT
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do you have road space?
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Originally posted by sbst275:
do you have road space?
Road space is the main issue here, if not we will have not have ERP or COE already. Maybe don't install rails on downtown line and use BRT buses instead, see can improve or not.
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to operate 2000-4000 buses we need 10 depots the size of WLDEP and 4000-8000 drivers
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eh.. MRT depots are equally land usage intensive...
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Originally posted by sbst275:
eh.. MRT depots are equally land usage intensive…
but it isnt easy to find 8000 drivers when the salary is peanuts -
how much you want to pay for the fares together w/ cost of future replacement? Now... If I put it this way... We can get mostly local drivers, but at higher fares.. but the money is still managed to be kept most within our borders...
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Originally posted by dan474:
to operate 2000-4000 buses we need 10 depots the size of WLDEP and 4000-8000 drivers
According to ST, yesterday's issue, there are about 7,500 bus drivers in SMRT and SBS today,finding another 4,000 should not be impossible.
Oour 1.1 billion bus improvement package also plans to add about 1,000 new drivers just like that.
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Originally posted by vicamour:
Unless the population of Singapore stays at 4 million and there are no MRT lines to start with, else BRT is a bit too late.
SBS has good intentions to introduce it in the late 90s, but LTA did not approve it. This lead to the problems we have now.
I remember LKY had an argument with GKS over whether the majority of our public transport should be bus or MRT in the 1970s. Primary concern is cost, we didnt have much money then. LKY said MRT and he won. Had GKS won, our bus transport system would eventually be restructed into some sort of a BRT system, due to the congestion issue with buses sharing cars on the road.
Who knows, instead of ECP, AYE and PIE running cars they could run buses instead.
However, LKY didnt anticpate the problems if our pop were to grow to 5 million today. He forgot who has the PhD and who is merely a Mr. Politician....
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the issue is the CBD's road pattern.. makes it difficult to BRT style to happen...
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Originally posted by SBS6305H:
Do u tink its practical for whole island to haf buses?
Abu then, isnt almost every road in Singapore have buses?
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Originally posted by SBS9C:
Road space is the main issue here, if not we will have not have ERP or COE already. Maybe don't install rails on downtown line and use BRT buses instead, see can improve or not.
BRT is a dedicated path for buses only and is totally seperated from normal roads. They can also run along places without roads at all. We can have multistorey depots to cater for more buses.However it is possible if our population is kept at 4-5 million. But our population is going to go beyond that. Total bus system won't be able to support for such circumstances.
Thing is, many Singaporeans do not want a 6.5 million population.