Saturday, July 28, 2012

Make better use of buses


24 July 2012 

Editor, Forum Page
Straits Times


Many commuters take the MRT because they are familiar with the routes and the 
stops. They may not realize that there is a bus route that could be more suitable for their
commuting.

As the trains are now over-crowded and it is difficult to increase the capacity, the Land
Transport Authority should look into encouraging more people to take the bus, if this is
a more convenient mode of travel. 

Here are some steps that can be taken:
  • Educate the public on how to use the bus, especially to find a convenient way
    to reach the destination on a direct route or with one convenient change of bus
  • Get the bus operators to display the sequential stop number and allow the
    commuters to know when to alight from the bus
  • Display the expected arrival time of the next bus, so that commuters can know the
    waiting time.
The bus arrival time is now available on mobile apps for SBS services, but is not
available for SMRT services. It should be possible for the information to be provided
by LTA using the data that is now collected for the calculation of the fares.

I hope that the Land Transport Authority can take early steps to improve the usage of
buses, to relieve the over demand on the trains.

Tan Kin Lian

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