Full day bus lanes mean smoother travel for passengers
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The next time you take a bus, you can expect your travel time to be shortened - this is made possible because of the "full day bus lanes" scheme, which comes into effect April 1.
Through this new scheme lanes are dedicated to public buses throughout the day to ensure that buses get to their next stop, in a shorter time.
This is what the Land Transport Authority (LTA) hopes to achieve so that more people will be encouraged to use public transport.
Full day bus lanes will be implemented in five areas with high bus and traffic volume, except for Orchard Road.
These areas are Eu Tong Sen Street, Hill Street, Victoria Street, Bras Basah Road and Somerset/Penang Road.
LTA expects that more than 50,000 commuters will enjoy a smoother daily ride on at least 40 bus services in the central business district.
And to make sure commuters travelling in other areas enjoy the same benefit, bus lane timings have been tweaked to accommodate peak hour traffic.
The bus lane hours for mornings remain from 7.30am to 9.30am.
But the evening timings have been extended to between 5pm and 8pm from 4.30pm and 6.30pm previously.
Bus lane hours for Saturdays have also been scrapped.
Some motorists believe this new scheme will mean more traffic jams, especially on roads with just two or three lanes.
With the changes made to the bus lane hours, one taxi driver finds it a hassle to drop off and pick up passengers: "Actually it is very inconvenient especially when the passengers want to drop at a certain point. It causes a lot of inconvenience for us because sometimes we have a misunderstanding with the passenger and we say that we cannot stop there because it is red line all throughout. So I think LTA has to review the case over and see if there is a better way or certain designated points to be allocated to us."
As part of LTA's public education efforts, it has sent out 600,000 information packets to all registered vehicle owners and taxi companies.
The LTA says so far there has been no disruption to the flow of traffic and motorists are aware of the changes. -
i hope there will be less jam when i take bus 190 from orchard to back home
