21 bus services improved: LTA
A quarterly review has found that 21 bus services have improved between July and September 2011, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Friday.
The improvements include deploying higher capacity buses or adding more bus trips to better match demand. Sectors that have consistently heavy ridership have also seen an increase the capacity and frequency of buses, said LTA.
A total of 255 weekly bus trips have been added, according to the latest quarterly review conducted by LTA, SBS Transit and SMRT .
Transport operator SBS Transit added more bus trips and improved 15 heavily-utilised bus services in this round of improvements.
It added more bus trips to buses 43, 48, 131, 183, 200 and 410, while more double-deck buses were deployed to bus services 58, 60, 95, 168, 186, 243W, 291 and 249 during morning and evening peak hours.
SMRT also added more buses and trips to six heavily-utilised services.
An additional bus was deployed on weekdays and weekends for services 922 and 966 while bus service 969 used a higher-capacity bendy bus during peak periods. Additional trips on service 962 were deployed during weekdays.
For Service 971E, one bendy bus was deployed during the morning peak period and two more bus trips were introduced during the evening peak hours. This would better serve Bukit Panjang residents travelling home from the Central Business District.
SMRT also added a "halfway on service bus trip" on service 106 to increase capacity for commuters travelling from Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 to Shenton Way Terminal during the morning peak periods. This arrangement allows SMRT to deploy empty buses midway from the bus stop located at Block 231 Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 to cater to passengers who board after the Bukit Batok Interchange.
Since the quarterly review process was formalised in June 2010, 74 unique bus services have been improved. Some buses have been improved multiple times.
Colin Lim, LTA's group director for vehicle and transit licensing, said, "As 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.”
