SINGAPORE: The government's two-year trial to improve bus punctuality will be fully rolled out by June for the pioneer batch of 22 services to be tested.
Dates to start testing 15 of those services have been set, with the remaining seven to go under trial by mid-year.
The experiment, costing some S$10 million to implement, will reward or penalise bus operators based on timeliness.
More services could be involved in the future.
The trial is funded from the existing Bus Service Enhancement Programme, which costs S$1.1 billion.
Operators, however, will not be rewarded or penalised till June to allow them time to adjust.
2014 should be the year commuters in Singapore see fewer instances of 'bus bunching', where two or more buses of the same service arrive together.
On February 3, seven services run by operator SMRT will begin trials under the Bus Service Reliability Framework.
They are service numbers 176, 184, 188, 302, 858, 901 and 911.
On February 28, another four services run by operator SBS Transit will be tested under the framework.
They are service numbers 17, 52, 228 and 242.
Four more by the same operator -- service numbers 3, 39, 241 and 325 -- will be added to the trial on March 2.
The 22 buses comprise a mix of long and short trunk services as well as feeder services, and are selected based on commuter feedback on reliability.
Julianne Kan, a pharmacist, said: "22 buses over, across the whole Singapore is not sufficient. I mean, to space out is a good idea, but maybe... more buses will be beneficial."
Mohamad Nazree, a lifeguard, said: "It's a very good move... because sometimes we wait for the bus for quite some time."
Authorities said the trial will not necessarily mean every single bus will arrive on time, all the time.
Liu Feng Yuan, acting director for bus infrastructure at Land Transport Authority, said: "Buses compete on the road with other vehicles, other cars. There can be unforeseen circumstances like accidents, or suddenly there's a large number of people getting on and off the bus, which then affects... how regularly the buses can arrive."
To space arrivals evenly, bus controllers can regulate speeds by having services slow down or wait at bus stops for short intervals of generally no more than a minute, and only if it does not cause any obstruction.
Standby buses can also be injected mid-route if there are delays to services already en-route.
To ensure safety, buses are equipped with speed limiters set at 60 kilometres an hour.
Drivers have to adhere strictly to speed limits on the roads, and those found to be driving recklessly will have disciplinary action taken against them.
If commuters, for example, had to wait for a particular bus service for two extra minutes on average in the past year, that is taken as the start point to reward or penalise operators.
Moving forward, achieving average monthly waiting times of less than two minutes will attract incentives.
Operators meeting the mark will get nothing, and penalties will be incurred if the average wait time is over two minutes.
Bus services will be assessed Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays, during peak and off-peak hours.
Dr Park Byung-joon, head of urban transport management programme at SIM University School of Business, said the system sets realistic targets.
He explained: "By starting with the last year average time, the bus companies are given a starting point to improve. So it is not that (we) just throw the best possible performance you have to achieve, then we are going to penalise you. The purpose is not that. We start from the last year, and give the opportunity to improve."
Rewards and penalties for punctuality are staggered under the reliability framework.
Services with 20 buses or more attract a S$4,000 fine and a S$6,000 reward for every six-second improvement or decline in punctuality that are averaged out monthly.
Services with under 10 buses attract a S$1,300 fine and a S$2,000 reward.
Services with between 10 and 20 buses attract a S$2,600 fine and a S$4,000 reward.
The Land Transport Authority said incentives are calibrated in accordance with the efforts and operational costs involved in improving the reliability of bus services.
Operators are rewarded only when improvements in bus service regularity are achieved, and penalised if services are not improved.
Article from Channel NewsAsia
I wonder what they're doing with EWT (Excess Waiting Time) or whatever that is... Gotta see the poster when it comes out...
Sv 27 always have bunch. The 3-7 min frequency not enough... wait 30 min and come 7 buses.
Seems like SBS Transit will get fined because of 27...
190 gonna make SMRT bankrupt :P
Why are they getting reward for being on time? I thought that is what schedule are for
Originally posted by 23ispolo:Seems like SBS Transit will get fined because of 27...
If you notice, services are selected carefully. The bus services that bunch often 27, 147 are not part of the scheme :)
Originally posted by TIB 585L:190 gonna make SMRT bankrupt :P
Yes for sure.
Even feeders are selected carefully keeping out services like 291, 334 that bunch often.
911 and 858 also kena.
858 BC told me " They all know how to say 100% punctuality, Let him (Transport Minister) drive one bus like 858 and he see whether can achieve 100% punctuality or not, the best is 90%. They only know how to say only. They never think that we BCs are always stuck in unpredictable condition like jam wich we cant control, accidents at expressway also we cannot control. This things are uncontrollable and u expect a 100% punctuality rate"
Originally posted by TIB 585L:190 gonna make SMRT bankrupt :P
waiting time between buses, many rigids.
this service alone is the condition needed for SMRT to either make it or break it.
Originally posted by SMB145B:waiting time between buses, many rigids.
this service alone is the condition needed for SMRT to either make it or break it.
Either break or make it, both need more man power.
So isn't LTA stressing up the operators followed by the drivers?
i dont think bus svc 242 and 325 and 17 should be inside the list. Especially 325 where traffic is very smooth throughout the whole route. I think LTA trying to include some smooth routes so that they can say that BSEP is very successful and another reason to reward bus operators?
Originally posted by TIB 585L:911 and 858 also kena.
858 BC told me " They all know how to say 100% punctuality, Let him (Transport Minister) drive one bus like 858 and he see whether can achieve 100% punctuality or not, the best is 90%. They only know how to say only. They never think that we BCs are always stuck in unpredictable condition like jam wich we cant control, accidents at expressway also we cannot control. This things are uncontrollable and u expect a 100% punctuality rate"
A BC from 172 also said about the same thing when he mentioned about this scheme...
Originally posted by SMB42P:
A BC from 172 also said about the same thing when he mentioned about this scheme...
172 got reliability problem ? i see 172 like okay only the frequency, it doesnt ply any expressway or roads that are prone to jams
No matter how good this scheme sounds to the public, I feel it only penalises the drivers lol. 858 sure jialat one, unpredictable loadings
'Standby buses can also be injected mid-route if there are delays to
services already en-route'
Sounds too good to be true
858 loading is crazy in the morning aft 7am, off peak not crowded. PM peak crowded esp at Yishun twds Woodlands and also SBW. Last few buses from airport is really crowded.
Originally posted by TIB 585L:858 loading is crazy in the morning aft 7am, off peak not crowded. PM peak crowded esp at Yishun twds Woodlands and also SBW. Last few buses from airport is really crowded.
Off peak quite crowded. But the frequency would be slightly better than peak hours. If you're lucky, you'll get bunch up(not very often).
With BSRF, the chances of missing a bus on the selected svc is HIGH.
With BSRF, the chances of driver driving recklessly is HIGH.
No wonder SMRT came out with some stupid rules with heavy fines.
Oh boy SMRT will be overloaded with fines, if 858 cant take it, 190/960/700/966/972 also CMI. All these service frequency can be bad if got jam
When fully roll out, 966 confirm fail 3 buses in 3 minutes evening peak
My understanding about the new BSRF is that the EWT threshold for being "up to standard", at least in this transition phase, is based on the historical EWT in the past period of time.
Each service has a different threshold in other words.
Food for thought.
Originally posted by SBS2601D:My understanding about the new BSRF is that the EWT threshold for being "up to standard", at least in this transition phase, is based on the historical EWT in the past period of time.
Each service has a different threshold in other words.
Food for thought.
This means that operators are rewarded for improving from their current performance for that service, regardless of how good or cui it currently is. Thus, while operators are encouraged to keep buses running closer to schedule, LTA is acknowledging that it is impossible to operate 100% on schedule esp. for longer routes, and is (for now) just striving for an improvement from the current condition.
With service levels being compared to the historical EWT, I believe it is not that likely that operators will be penalised, unless they perform worse than the status quo. Assuming traffic conditions do not worsen drastically and operators keep up their current efforts in bus scheduling, they should at least perform up to the status quo and fall within the neutral zone. In other words, even if svcs like 858 continue to be as unreliable as they are currently, SMRT would receive no penalty. Operators would be penalised only if they reduce their efforts and/or traffic conditions worsen significantly.
Think rather that this current exercise may become something like NSman IPT. The noose may not tighten now, but the foundations have been laid.
Read the article carefully.
The new BSRF requires new methodology, new interpretations, new analytical tools, and more importantly, requires even more real-time monitoring, micro-management and flexibility.
For those who say why not this service, that service, or worse, why not ALL at this point, I hugely doubt you can do any better than those who came up with the BSRF which may have the potential to weed out those BCs who have been playing punk with the system all these while.