New Shortworking Trip 179A for NTU Students
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Woah. Looks like you are familiar with how 179 operates.Originally posted by stooper:No use increasing the number of buses. The main problem is bus bunching which is caused by the reasons I posted about 6 posts above. if you average out the bus loading, then each bus only about all fully seated.
I think the fastest route to BNL from NTU (& vice versa) is to take Pioneer Rd Nth, Jurong West Ave 4, then Jurong West St 64, which is basically 192/193 route to BNL.
The Jalan Bahar/PIE route is used for AM peak down trips presently! But it wastes a lot of time. They give the bus 10min to get from BNL (16min from SLBP) to get to that down trip starting location.
Pro drivers can get from BNL to NTU using the standard route in 7-8minutes. The fastest I've seen was 5min. He must have been very lucky, with all clear traffic lights along St 63.
Perhaps 179A can use your recommended route. -
The bahar route is longer than the prn route.. It's about 20 minutes when I tried to take 199 from NIE to Boon Lay. for 179, Boon Lay to LWN Lib / Can A (that's what it's called now) takes about 13 minutes.
The main "dump" points of 179 in NTU are:
LWN Lib / Can A (for North Spine schools) Sch of Comm and Info (for some South Spine schools e.g. SCI, EEE) Innovation Centre (for the remaining South Spine schools, e.g. HSS, NBS)
Problem now is at PM peak, LWN Lib stop is overflowing and when it reaches SCI stop, it cannot take any more people. Students at South have to wait about 4-5 buses before they can board, or wait for the 5:45pm special downtrip. -
I wonder whether the down trips from Sch of Comms studies will still exist once 179A is implemented... It might be very complicated!Originally posted by kuekj:Problem now is at PM peak, LWN Lib stop is overflowing and when it reaches SCI stop, it cannot take any more people. Students at South have to wait about 4-5 buses before they can board, or wait for the 5:45pm special downtrip.
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On friday, saw that at BNL, they have pulled all the plastic yellow barricades that used to block the front of the individual berths for queuing and then connected those barricades into one long line and placed in at the curve between the 174e and 179 berths!
I think they don't want buses to load from the curve anymore. This is no good as this will worsen the bunching of 179...
Most likely, the 179 drivers will just cut in front of the 180 bendies to load now, and block the 180 bendies from departing instead.
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So, how's the 1st day of service 179A getting along ? I didnt have time to look at it at Boon Lay... How was it ? is it going smoothly ? good or bad ? your views...
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179A(PM Pack) uses normal 179 route
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Saw 179A still using the same old route heading to Boon Lay this morning. The 179A desto like very ugly.. Some BC just turn over the normal 179 desto and show the white portion when doing 179A this morning (Maybe short of 179A desto)..
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More SD than DD front desto are painted.Originally posted by chickenlittle2:Saw 179A still using the same old route heading to Boon Lay this morning. The 179A desto like very ugly.. Some BC just turn over the normal 179 desto and show the white portion when doing 179A this morning (Maybe short of 179A desto)..
Btw, the 179A DD side desto is blurred when the light is on...
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yeah , dont know why more SD Desto . maybe convert all to SD fleet ,Originally posted by brotherchen1982:More SD than DD front desto are painted.
Btw, the 179A DD side desto is blurred when the light is on... -
If too many DDs on 179A, ppl living along Pioneer Rd Nth/Jurong West St 63 will make noise...Originally posted by SBS BUSES LOVER:yeah , dont know why more SD Desto . maybe convert all to SD fleet , -
Imagine , rows of DD along the streetsOriginally posted by brotherchen1982:If too many DDs on 179A, ppl living along Pioneer Rd Nth/Jurong West St 63 will make noise... -
Happened durind PM peak just now...Originally posted by Volvo Olympian:Imagine , rows of DD along the streets
179As + 179s + 255s -
Yes, today, the 179 destos were a complete joke.Originally posted by brotherchen1982:More SD than DD front desto are painted.
Btw, the 179A DD side desto is blurred when the light is on...
Different styles as follows:
- 179A SD front desto as DD front desto
- white overturned desto as 179A DD front desto (means front completely blank)
- back 179A desto used as side 179A desto
- back desto as 179 when operating 179A
But, the ultimate was
both side and front overturned white destos, paste a printed A4 paper on front windscreen and side window with "179A" written on it. It was seen on 2 buses! -
Ok la.. imagine next time the Boon Lay MRT extentsion opens, they got to bear both the MRT and busesOriginally posted by brotherchen1982:If too many DDs on 179A, ppl living along Pioneer Rd Nth/Jurong West St 63 will make noise...
Btw, why cannot use iris to check 179A timing? Anyone got the timing? -
Wa.. So messy
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SWT also want to check iris???Originally posted by chickenlittle2:Btw, why cannot use iris to check 179A timing? Anyone got the timing? -
Today managed to camp at BNL for 1.5hours, from 16.30 till 18.10 to see the operation. Here's what I think of the new service
From passengers point of view
Those people who board at BNL are severely disadvantaged. The frequency is reduced by more than half. The biggest gap I observed was 8 minutes from 17.30 onwards. The 16.00 period was still rather alright, with frequency at 4 - 5mins.
At one point, the queue stretched from the new 179 berth (shared with 157, 199, 252) all the way to the 174e berth!
However, those from NTU and those along Pioneer Rd Nth/JW St 63 benefit!
Buses are not so unevenly loaded now, with the load being spread out among the buses. And the people along Pioneer Rd Nth/JW St 63 are able to board 179 buses.
Previously, they had to face 4 or 5 full to the door 179 buses, before another 4 or 5 empty buses come bunching together.
But heavy bus bunching is still present today... -
From operational point of view
The timing and arrangement is EXTREMELY complicated! There are much more variations than just 179 and 179A!
But first, about 242 and 255, they have tried to keep the timings of these services the same, so majority of the buses on these 2 services still depart on the same timings as the old timetable. The part severely changed is the 242 or 255 crossing over to 179 part. 9187L will do 179A for 2 or 3 trips, while the 255 buses will do 179A too (not sure how many trips).
Back to 179, firstly, it seems that the buses doing 179A in PM peak are those which don't x-over to 242. But I'm not so sure whether this is completely true.
There are actually at least 3 types of 179 services. (4th one unconfirmed yet)
179 - one loop around BNL
179 - down trip from inside NTU
179A - standard departure from Hall 1
179A - (unconfirmed) down trip from inside NTU
Moreover, buses aren't fixed to just one type of svc.
For example, 9092B did at least 2 trips of 179A in early PM peak, then switched to down trip of 179, then did pure 179 rounds.
However, there are buses will do the reverse, like 9111E, 9128H, 9131Y! They do pure 179 rounds first, and then do 179A rounds later on, from 6pm, 7pm onwards! (as observed by brotherchen)
I have no idea why SBST don't want to leave the 179A buses as they are, and the pure 179 buses as they are, so BC don't need to keep changing destos.
Buses doing 179A consist of both A/P and S shift buses. E shift not so sure.
But the biggest joke I think is the timesheet arrangement. 179 I believe has the strictest timetabling of all services.
179 now has 9 regulating points on the timesheet for a 30 - 38min round! This is compared to other svcs like 334, which was 3 fare stage points for 45mins, 333 with 5 points for 50min, 255 with 7 points for 55min.
It's rather ironic since even today, the BCs were chionging like crazy, ignoring the timesheet.
The timesheets are now super long, only being able to fit 6 complete 179 rounds on one page. I think there may be a 6 - 8 page long A/P shift timesheet., or maybe a 4 page long E shift timesheet! Maybe someone can try and take a look.
So the 179 arrnangement is super complicated, requiring all buses to carry 179 and 179A front destos, 179 and 179A AM peak, 179A PM peak side destos. So lots of destos required! Maybe 242 or 255 too! -
By the way, can someone take a look at which 2 buses do the 179 to 255 crossovers? I suspect they may be VO3x.
The timings which they will depart BNL as 255 should be 7.10 and 7.40am, for 1 trip each. -
Btw, even though 179A started this morning, long queue that stretch all to the alighting points still appear..Originally posted by stooper:Today managed to camp at BNL for 1.5hours, from 16.30 till 18.10 to see the operation. Here's what I think of the new service
From passengers point of view
Those people who board at BNL are severely disadvantaged. The frequency is reduced by more than half. The biggest gap I observed was 8 minutes from 17.30 onwards. The 16.00 period was still rather alright, with frequency at 4 - 5mins.
At one point, the queue stretched from the new 179 berth (shared with 157, 199, 252) all the way to the 174e berth!
However, those from NTU and those along Pioneer Rd Nth/JW St 63 benefit!
Buses are not so unevenly loaded now, with the load being spread out among the buses. And the people along Pioneer Rd Nth/JW St 63 are able to board 179 buses.
Previously, they had to face 4 or 5 full to the door 179 buses, before another 4 or 5 empty buses come bunching together.
But heavy bus bunching is still present today... -
Yeah! Cos it is nt like other SWT svcs but almost the same as Express 502A, a short version..Originally posted by brotherchen1982:SWT also want to check iris??? -
But you won't be able to take it anyway unless you walk into NTU...Originally posted by chickenlittle2:Yeah! Cos it is nt like other SWT svcs but almost the same as Express 502A, a short version.. -
hahaz.. of course walk into NTU to take la.. Cos my house is near to NTU, just need to cross the overhead bridge and walk through the garden to get to the bus stop at Hall 4..Originally posted by stooper:But you won't be able to take it anyway unless you walk into NTU... -
Ultra long Q spotted again this morning...
Many confused with 179 & 252 Qs.
Not enough 179A destos, some uses 179A PM Pack side destos...
Merc spotted doing 179A today.
SBS373A, SBS3730H(SL 335) -
This morning I saw the queue ends near the entrance of the alighting berth (Where buses come into BNL).. Super Super Long..Originally posted by brotherchen1982:Ultra long Q spotted again...
Many confused with 179 & 252 Qs.
Not enough 179A destos, some uses 179A PM Pack side destos...
Merc spotted doing 179A today.
SBS373A, SBS3730H(SL 335)