Hello guys.. It has been almost 2 yrs since I last posted. A few qns from me..
1) For the last few years, I have been emailing LTA etc regarding issues with current svcs or suggestions on new routes and so on. But most of the time I will receive 'very poor, ridiculous' replies from them. Can anyone share your experience/s as well?
2) I noticed that new bus stops have been installed along Chai Chee St/Dr on the opposite direction of where svc 222 plies. Any info anyone? (I did emailed them regarding an additional bus to supplement svc 222 on both directions before but received a very 'out of point' reply...)
Standard reply from them...Always this guy by the name of Muhammad xxxxxx...That guy can join MP liao..
Originally posted by starscream_07:Hello guys.. It has been almost 2 yrs since I last posted. A few qns from me..
1) For the last few years, I have been emailing LTA etc regarding issues with current svcs or suggestions on new routes and so on. But most of the time I will receive 'very poor, ridiculous' replies from them. Can anyone share your experience/s as well?
2) I noticed that new bus stops have been installed along Chai Chee St/Dr on the opposite direction of where svc 222 plies. Any info anyone? (I did emailed them regarding an additional bus to supplement svc 222 on both directions before but received a very 'out of point' reply...)
LTA thinks you are one of the many bus lobbyists, and a very poor one too.
Try harder next time.
Originally posted by sgbuses:LTA thinks you are one of the many bus lobbyists, and a very poor one too.
Try harder next time.
Wakakaka..They should try something concrete rather than own preferences.
Granted, the LTA deals with a lot of feedback every day - many of which are rubbish suggestions.
But I agree some of their replies are very stupid. Sometimes they are just trying to find an excuse, or be defensive in instances where there are gaps but don't really want to do anything about it. For instance, when I feedbacked about an MP-Kembangan link, they acknowledged that there were no links but "stressed that there are alternatives". And their alternative is one that I've see NO ONE using because it is so stupid: Take 42 to Flamingo Valley and then take 40 to East Coast Rd, and then walk from Roxy Square at East Coast Rd under the sheltered walkway.
Stupid on many levels. For those of you familiar with 42, it goes in and out of Fidelio Street, so one must endure this loop in and out, and make a gigantic loop from Kembangan, just to get to Flamingo Valley where one can transfer to 40. Then 40's frequency is also not fantastic and it doesn't go directly to Marine Parade Rd. And while PP is accessible from East Coast Rd via Roxy Sq, other amenities in MP are not.
It probably will take you a good 30 minutes using LTA's suggestion, when one can just shoot down Frankel Av or Siglap Rd in a taxi from Kembangan MRT, and be at Marine Parde in 5 mins.
Originally posted by sgbuses:LTA thinks you are one of the many bus lobbyists, and a very poor one too.
Try harder next time.
Yeah maybe they thought i'm from one of those 'fantasy bus groups.'
Sometimes we just have to demand..eg I feedback on svc 17 & 225. Initially they were quite unfazed...after kena shoot many times then they finally 'do stg'.. (intro 17A which is actually ex-227!)...
Originally posted by SBS6465E:Granted, the LTA deals with a lot of feedback every day - many of which are rubbish suggestions.
But I agree some of their replies are very stupid. Sometimes they are just trying to find an excuse, or be defensive in instances where there are gaps but don't really want to do anything about it. For instance, when I feedbacked about an MP-Kembangan link, they acknowledged that there were no links but "stressed that there are alternatives". And their alternative is one that I've see NO ONE using because it is so stupid: Take 42 to Flamingo Valley and then take 40 to East Coast Rd, and then walk from Roxy Square at East Coast Rd under the sheltered walkway.
Stupid on many levels. For those of you familiar with 42, it goes in and out of Fidelio Street, so one must endure this loop in and out, and make a gigantic loop from Kembangan, just to get to Flamingo Valley where one can transfer to 40. Then 40's frequency is also not fantastic and it doesn't go directly to Marine Parade Rd. And while PP is accessible from East Coast Rd via Roxy Sq, other amenities in MP are not.
It probably will take you a good 30 minutes using LTA's suggestion, when one can just shoot down Frankel Av or Siglap Rd in a taxi from Kembangan MRT, and be at Marine Parde in 5 mins.
True enough, we understand that LTA themselves have their own guidelines and other stuffs to look at etc... but at times they are really, really absurd. For my case, I rmbr a LTA officer asking me to take 17 (from Bdk Nth Ave 4) to Bedok MRT & take the train to TM....one whole round..!
Originally posted by carbikebus:Standard reply from them...Always this guy by the name of Muhammad xxxxxx...That guy can join MP liao..
He's one of many...
I feel that they are reasonable in their replies.
If your point is valid, they accept.
If your point is not valid, they reject.
They are the authorities. They have the data. They know the exact loading on bus services.
I ever wrote an e-mail to them before, in year 2013.
Back then, there were long queues observed at the boarding berths for bus services 243G and 243W.
I wrote an e-mail to the LTA to suggest splitting bus route 243 into two.
Two weeks later, they replied.
This was their reply:
----------
Dear Mr Najib,
RE: Feedback
FEEDBACK NUMBER: 201301302359
We refer to your email of 30 January 2013.
Please allow us to share that in planning for an efficient and effective bus network, we are guided by the principles to improve journey quality, better integrated public transport nodes and services, strengthen the current hub-and-spoke model, and ensure the overall financial viability of the bus network.
Service 243 is a feeder service which bring residents to nearby amenities and transport nodes for transfer to other services/ trains to get to the other parts of the island. We have looked into your request to spilt Service 243 into two services. Our assessment is that the spilt would adversely affect existing passengers with lost links to amenities, ie. Gek Poh Shopping Centre, Pioneer Mall, etc. In additional, residents who now enjoy the direct link will need to make additional transfers, which will impact them with longer journey time.
Bus operators, like SBS Transit Ltd (SBST), monitor passenger demand for their bus services closely and schedule the frequency of the service according to the demand so that resources can be put to better use. The current scheduled frequency for Service 243 is 4 to 9 minutes during the morning and evening peak hours.
We note your concerns on the overcrowding of Service 243. Currently, the Quality of Service (QoS) Standard set by the Public Transport Council (PTC) on passenger loading requires that the average loading does not exceed 95% daily during the weekday peak periods on each bus service. We have checked the 1st two bus stops which Service 243 calls at after leaving the bus interchange during the evening peak hours. Our checks at the bus stop outside Blk 669 along Jurong West Street 64 showed that Service 243G operated with majority of the trips below 80% utilisation when the buses leave the bus stop. At the bus stop outside Blk 665A along Jurong West Street 62, all trips had the utilisation rate of less than 75%. Please provide us with more details such as actual location, date and time where overcrowding was experienced so as to allow us to investigate, as well as follow-up with SBST.
Moving forward, we would like to assure you that we will continue to work with SBST to closely continue and review the performance of Service 243 and implement improvement measures, where necessary.
We thank you for writing in.
Yours sincerely
MAHATHIR
EXECUTIVE, BUS SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
BUS & VOCATIONAL LICENSING DIVISION
VEHICLE & TRANSIT LICENSING GROUP
------
Names faked to protect identity.
I appreciate their effort to check the data, and write a tactful reply. I am convinced with the figures they provided, that it was just me thinking that the service is bad. It was probably due to the long queues and waiting times that made me think that the service is bad, where actually it is good. As commuters, we should accept what we have and enjoy the ride.
I stopped writing to them to feedback on bus services ever since I received that reply, as they had given me the assurance that I can count on them to deliver a good quality public bus service.
Honestly, our public bus service is good. As compared to the other states like Johor Bahru, Penang and Sarawak, ours is the best.
Originally posted by gekpohboy:I feel that they are reasonable in their replies.
Back then, in year 2013, I wrote an e-mail to them regarding bus service 243, after observing very long queues for bus services 243G and 243W at the bus interchange.
I suggested splitting 243 into two.
They took two weeks to reply.
This is their reply:
Names obviously faked to protect identity.
We have to understand that they are the authorities. They know the data. They know what they are doing.
Ever since that e-mail, I stopped writing to them to feedback on bus services, because I feel assured that our public bus service is in good hands.
Last time is 243 have long queues, now is 193. I think if someone writes to them to complain about 193, their reply will be something like this.
Anyway, rather than complain, we should appreciate that we have a good quality public bus service. The public bus service in neighbouring states like Johor Bahru is worse.
mayb u shud stop complaining about feeder svcs, 243 is already very short already still want to cut short??
Not directly related to bus routes, but I'd previously sent feedback (in 2014) abt the posters at MRT stations, showing bus svcs to other MRT stns. [http://www.mytransport.sg/content/mytransport/home/commuting/trainservices.html] Some of their replies also quite strange...
We refer to your email of 20 May 2014.
These posters were recently put up at MRT stations to facilitate commuters in continuing their journeys using alternative bus services during a train service disruption and the bus stops indicated in these posters are the bridging points where commuters can board the free shuttle bus services. During a train service disruption, the regular bus services at these identified bridging points’ bus stops will also be provided free in addition to the shuttle bus services activated.
Allow us to explain the following points raised:
1. Loop service shown for two directions : The information was generated based on the bridging points identified by the bus operators/LTA and the regular bus services at the bridging points’ bus stops will be provided free in addition to the shuttle bus services activated during a train service disruption.
(eg Admiralty MRT, where 904, 913, 964, 965 to Woodlands MRT are listed under bus stops on both sides of the road. Then what if pax dunno and take the bus on the wrong side and loop one big round?)
2. Outdated information : Please note that any changes made to the bus services after the posters were put up will not be reflected. As changes to the NR services were made after the posters had been printed and installed, they will be updated in future, similar to the current updating practices.
(ok fair enough, but the posters don't seem to be updated, and do ppl even look at them...?)
3. Incomplete information : As mentioned above, the posters only indicate the bridging points’ bus stops where the free shuttle bus services and some regular bus services will be calling at. Commuters who prefer to take bus services at other bus stops that were not identified in the posters, can still choose to do so, at their own cost.
(eg Marymount MRT, only got 410 to Bishan and 588 to Tanjong Pagar? Then how about 54, 74, 851, 852 to Novena, AMK, YCK, Yishun etc? How about to MRT stns with no direct buses? So is the poster meant to indicate bus svcs to other MRT stations, or only bus svcs that will be free if MRT breaks down?)
4. Representation of bus service with route variants operating at selected timings : Currently, for those services not operating on full day basis, there will be an asterisk with the following footnote - “Note : * Operates on selected days and / or times”. As these posters were completed jointly with Transitlink and the bus operators, we will share your feedback with them for their future review.
The above-mentioned posters will complement the other collaterals that will be displayed in the event of a train service disruption. We thank you for writing in and will inform TransitLink to take note of the necessary areas during their updating.
Fwd: Poor Management of Service 103
We refer to your feedback dated 11 October 2015. We are sorry to hear about your negative experience with Service 103.
Service 103 is currently scheduled to depart from the respective interchanges at the following intervals:
|
Departing Interchange |
Time Period |
Scheduled Intervals |
|
Yishun Interchange |
Morning peak period |
10 minutes |
|
Morning off-peak period |
10 to 16 minutes |
|
|
Serangoon Interchange |
Morning peak period |
8 to 12 minutes |
With varying traffic conditions, passenger activities and weather conditions leading to variation in bus arrival times, departure of buses from the interchange can be expected to differ from schedule by up to 5 minutes.
Based on our checks on 9 September 2015 at Yishun Interchange, there was an instance of prolonged wait time of 23 minutes from 3.16pm to 3.39pm, which you have encountered. This was because one of the scheduled trips did not depart from the interchange, due to the bus captain scheduled for the trip calling in sick. We would like to assure you that the long wait time experienced at Yishun Interchange is likely to be one-off. Our further checks for the month of September indicate that the overall reliability of Service 103 is good, with more than 95% of trips departing the interchange at intervals of 16 minutes or less.
In addition, you have also mentioned in your feedback that other buses on Service 103 were in the interchange, but were not dispatched to reduce the wait time. Based on our records, SBS6558U was the first among the buses which you have listed in your feedback to arrive at the interchange, at 3:23pm, and was dispatched at 3.39pm, which you subsequently boarded. Some break time was necessary for the bus captain. That said, SBS Transit Ltd (SBST) could have made some adjustment to the timing of the trips to space out the bus departure timings and shorten the wait time of passengers like yourself. We have reminded SBST that they are expected to make live adjustment to minimise the impact of any unplanned service delays on passengers.
We would like to share that the frequency and capacity of a service is planned according to the demand to ensure that finite resources are judiciously distributed to enhance existing services for maximum benefit to the community. We have been closely monitoring the utilisation levels of existing bus services and work with the bus operators to target those that have the highest ridership demand for improvement.
We have assessed the capacity provision for Service 103 at the following bus stops along West Camp Road with the highest demand, in both directions, from 14 September to 2 October 2015 between 6.30am and 8.30am:
|
Travel Direction |
Bus Stop Code |
Bus Stop Name |
|
|
D1 |
Towards Yishun |
68161 |
Seletar West Camp Gate 3 |
|
D2 |
Towards Serangoon |
68159 |
After ST Airport Services |
Based on our checks, the average bus utilisation at the bus stop outside Seletar West Camp Gate 3 is low, with most of the buses departing the bus stop less than half full. The capacity provision of Service 103 is also adequate, with 95% of the buses less than two-thirds full when they departed the bus stop After ST Airport Services. However, we note that there was a trip at a higher bus utilisation of more than 75% and some commuters might face difficulties boarding the bus if on-board passengers do not move to the rear of the buses. We will request SBST to remind their bus drivers to request passengers to move to the rear of the buses.
LTA has been closely monitoring the performance of Service 103 and working with SBST to progressively implement measures to improve the services. Since the launch of the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP), we have added 2 buses to Service 103 and an additional 6 buses in view of the route extension in June 2015. This has helped to provide additional capacity for passengers taking this service and at the same time, shorten the waiting time.
We will continue to monitor the service closely and work with SBST to implement further improvement measures where necessary.
Thank you for your feedback.
Cc
The Officer-in-charge
SBS Transit Ltd
Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
Please make live adjustment to minimise the impact of any unplanned service delays on passengers. Please also remind your bus drivers to request passengers on-board to move to the rear of the buses. Thank you.
SENDER'S DETAILS
==================
Sender's Name :
Email Address :
Telephone No. :
Feedback Date : 11 October 2015
Received Date : 11 October 2015
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you are not the intended recipient of this communication, please notify the sender and delete it.
As it may contain confidential or official information, do not retain it or disclose the contents to any person
as it may be an offence under the Official Secrets Act.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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