Government contracting model for public bus industry
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Learn to accept it. This is perfectly normal in Perth.
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I have checked the bus arrival times for bus service 106, at around 8:30pm.
In the direction towards Shenton Way, the bus waiting time is around 5 to 15 minutes, until Napier Road where waiting times exceed 15 minutes.
In the direction towards Bukit Batok, the bus waiting time is around 3 to 34 minutes.
By right, the frequency at this hour should be 10-11 minutes (to Shenton Way) and 10-13 minutes (to Bukit Batok).
I guess there are three reasons why the actual frequency is lower.
Firstly, there may be a traffic jam at Orchard area.
Secondly, there may be a bus on service 106 that was taken out of service.
Thirdly, Tower Transit may not have spare buses to introduce along the route or replace withdrawn buses, yet.
Well, today is only the first day. I believe Tower Transit will improve their bus services, as they gain more experience and receive more buses from the LTA.
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Those very familiar with how buses operate in Australia, such as in Perth and Brisbane, will be able to understand how TT uses their buses here.
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And it seems our new operator is not fussy when it comes to bus deployment. Since someone mention seeing a SG plate wright on 106. I also happen to saw one in town too.
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Originally posted by TIB868X:
Those very familiar with how buses operate in Australia, such as in Perth and Brisbane, will be able to understand how TT uses their buses here.
Some Australian operators do not maintain a perm system. Drivers take whichever bus is nearest to the depot exit as long as it is the correct capacity type.
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So is it safe to say that service has gotten worse or is the LTA app just wonky? Because I just checked some TT services (106, 173 & 77) and frequency is akin to buses in Malaysia.
Dammn, just nationalise the bus industry.
Also, I don't understand TT's service brochures when it comes to frequencies. What rubbish is this?
http://www.towertransit.sg/pamplets/173C.pdf
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I am surprised that there is the problem of bus brunching on bus services 941 and 947.
I thought they are introducing the practice of holding the earlier bus at the bus stop in case of bus brunching?
Whereas for 106's case of traffic jam at Orchard area, why they never do impromptu route change to skip the congested area?
Maybe it's because today's their first day, that's why they haven't started these practices yet, or even introduce fresh buses along the route like how SBS and SMRT do.
I believe they will improve.
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Originally posted by gekpohboy:
I am surprised that there is the problem of bus brunching on bus services 941 and 947.
I thought they are introducing the practice of holding the earlier bus at the bus stop in case of bus brunching?
Whereas for 106's case of traffic jam at Orchard area, why they never do impromptu route change to skip the congested area?
Maybe it's because today's their first day, that's why they haven't started these practices yet, or even introduce fresh buses along the route like how SBS and SMRT do.
I believe they will improve.
Buy a cheap return ticket to Perth and take the city's buses for a day or two.
You will know why.
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Originally posted by sgbuses:
Buy a cheap return ticket to Perth and take the city's buses for a day or two.
You will know why.
Are you saying the situation with TT is hopeless?
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Some arrival times on TT services buses are "missing" from arrival time apps. For example, 1001D
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Originally posted by SBS6465E:
So is it safe to say that service has gotten worse or is the LTA app just wonky? Because I just checked some TT services (106, 173 & 77) and frequency is akin to buses in Malaysia.
Dammn, just nationalise the bus industry.
Also, I don't understand TT's service brochures when it comes to frequencies. What rubbish is this?
http://www.towertransit.sg/pamplets/173C.pdf
in a way it has already been nationalized to some extent with the control LTA has. the operations have just been outsourced to specialized operators.
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Originally posted by SBS6465E:
Are you saying the situation with TT is hopeless?
No. They are a very experienced operator in Perth and have a very different way of running bus services.
When I was in Perth I was told in no less uncertain terms that they will NOT change their practices and policies. You must learn to adapt to them.
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Originally posted by SBS6465E:
Are you saying the situation with TT is hopeless?
I dont want to say much but most UK trainers in Lydep already say negative remarks about them and they were suprised how LTA award them $556m in the first place..
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Originally posted by sgbuses:
No. They are a very experienced operator in Perth and have a very different way of running bus services.
When I was in Perth I was told in no less uncertain terms that they will NOT change their practices and policies. You must learn to adapt to them.
So what does that mean? Will their practices/policies improve service or make it worse?
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Originally posted by SBS6465E:
So what does that mean? Will their practices/policies improve service or make it worse?
That depends on whether you agree with their practices and policies. That is not for me to comment.
All I am saying is that they take a very different approach to running bus services as compared to our two incumbent bus operators.
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I was at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia three years ago (December 2012). I stayed in an apartment somewhere around First Avenue, near Pacific Fair shopping centre. I ever tried their bus services before, but I do not know if it was Tower Transit or another operator. From what I remember, the waiting times were around twenty minutes. And I was ever chased out of the bus in the middle of the road and had to walk longer distances... but, I do not think we can use that area's bus services as a guage on how Tower Transit may perform in Singapore, because Singapore is an urban area, whereas Gold Coast (or Brisbane for that matter) is a suburb.
A better guage would be the Tower Transit at London, United Kingdom. But I do not know about the bus services there...
Well, if I am not wrong, carbikebus was at London a few months ago. Maybe he can share with us his views on the bus services at London. :)
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Originally posted by gekpohboy:
I was at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia three years ago (December 2012). I stayed in an apartment somewhere around First Avenue, near Pacific Fair shopping centre. I ever tried their bus services before, but I do not know if it was Tower Transit or another operator. From what I remember, the waiting times were around twenty minutes. And I was ever chased out of the bus in the middle of the road and had to walk longer distances... but, I do not think we can use that area's bus services as a guage on how Tower Transit may perform in Singapore, because Singapore is an urban area, whereas Gold Coast (or Brisbane for that matter) is a suburb.
A better guage would be the Tower Transit at London, United Kingdom. But I do not know about the bus services there...
Well, if I am not wrong, carbikebus was at London a few months ago. Maybe he can share with us his views on the bus services at London. :)
QLD has the most expensive bus fares. More so than WA.
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Originally posted by sgbuses:
Learn to accept it. This is perfectly normal in Perth.
So? Only Marmion, Joondalup and Kalamunda changed hands. Fremantle, Midland and Morley were retained by the incumbents. Four more contracts to be farmed out when their time comes. Hope CDGE can win one of them.
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Originally posted by iveco:
So? Only Marmion, Joondalup and Kalamunda changed hands. Fremantle, Midland and Morley were retained by the incumbents. Four more contracts to be farmed out when their time comes. Hope CDGE can win one of them.
If even Adams couldn't win, I don't see how CDC can ever enter the WA market.
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Originally posted by sgbuses:
If even Adams couldn't win, I don't see how CDC can ever enter the WA market.
Maybe we might see Adams Coaches get absorbed by CDGE just like Swan Taxi.
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Originally posted by gekpohboy:
I was at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia three years ago (December 2012). I stayed in an apartment somewhere around First Avenue, near Pacific Fair shopping centre. I ever tried their bus services before, but I do not know if it was Tower Transit or another operator. From what I remember, the waiting times were around twenty minutes. And I was ever chased out of the bus in the middle of the road and had to walk longer distances... but, I do not think we can use that area's bus services as a guage on how Tower Transit may perform in Singapore, because Singapore is an urban area, whereas Gold Coast (or Brisbane for that matter) is a suburb.
A better guage would be the Tower Transit at London, United Kingdom. But I do not know about the bus services there...
Well, if I am not wrong, carbikebus was at London a few months ago. Maybe he can share with us his views on the bus services at London. :)
All i can say that most UK drivers must gone through traffic police profiency test before they were allowed to drive service bus after they complete their trainings.London got a lot of narrow roads and cyclists,So from there you can roughly gauge how good is their driving skills.UK bus drivers focus more on road and passenger safety than runtime.
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Originally posted by gekpohboy:
I have checked the bus arrival times for bus service 106, at around 8:30pm.
In the direction towards Shenton Way, the bus waiting time is around 5 to 15 minutes, until Napier Road where waiting times exceed 15 minutes.
In the direction towards Bukit Batok, the bus waiting time is around 3 to 34 minutes.
By right, the frequency at this hour should be 10-11 minutes (to Shenton Way) and 10-13 minutes (to Bukit Batok).
I guess there are three reasons why the actual frequency is lower.
Firstly, there may be a traffic jam at Orchard area.
Secondly, there may be a bus on service 106 that was taken out of service.
Thirdly, Tower Transit may not have spare buses to introduce along the route or replace withdrawn buses, yet.
Well, today is only the first day. I believe Tower Transit will improve their bus services, as they gain more experience and receive more buses from the LTA.
The SGTransport arrival times screwed up today though on multiple services...
some buses are not captured in the system..like SG1009H
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Originally posted by SMB42P:
The SGTransport arrival times screwed up today though on multiple services...
some buses are not captured in the system..like SG1009H
Though for 106, the wait was awfully long on the ground, 20-30 mins for one bus, then in the opposite direction, 3 buses arriving in less than 5 mins headway. If you missed that wave, good luck.
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Originally posted by SBS351M:
Though for 106, the wait was awfully long on the ground, 20-30 mins for one bus, then in the opposite direction, 3 buses arriving in less than 5 mins headway. If you missed that wave, good luck.
When I observed in the afternoon, the departure frequency was about 12 mins from Bukit Batok interchange, though some buses departed a little later due to some difficulties (IDFC system/EZ-link card readers, EDS etc) encountered when starting service. I was onboard SG5017H (106) which departed a little later due to the BC not being familiar with how to change the direction of the EDS, but he drove at an average speed and along the way SG5026G caught up with it. The BC then started driving faster (I believe SG5026G slowed down as it wasn't in sight after that and the interval increased to around 4 mins). Later it caught up to SG5003Y, and the BC started driving very slowly. Overall the problem seems to be caused by how the BCs pace themselves along the way, instead of following their schedule they seem to just average themselves inbetween the front and back bus (perhaps they are not allowed to overtake the front bus?).