Does it make sense?

Then TIBS Bendy Bus

(Taken from sgforums.com)

SMRT started operating their articulated bus 'Bendy Bus' in some of their services some 10 years ago and personally I think it is a very good move as being 1 and 1/2 times longer than normal bus, it can carry, yes, 1and 1/2 times more passengers.

Officially, a Bendy Bus (BB) can carry as many or even more passengers than a Double Decker (DD) than SBST uses, depending on the model. (DD - 132, BB - 143, Normal SD -85, 90 newer WAB models).

Depending on the service routes, where the passengers mostly travel long distance (some that I can think of including) 198, 30, 51, 857, 858, 969, etc, DD will be ideal as it provides more seating capacity.

On the other end of the spectrum, on those service routes where passengers travel no more than 5 bus stops or bus journey no more than 10 minutes, BB will be more ideal. The reasons are obvious. For routes with most of the passenger travels less than 5 bus stops, the lower deck of the DD may be packed but there is almost certain that there are empty seats on the upper deck, especially towards the rear. For the BB, almost anywhere in the bus in the same with easy access to exit doors and such, so it is more likely to reach the full capacity in such situation than a DD.

LTA will argue that despite that, it takes up more road space and road space is very limited in Singapore. So, I do believe that LTA has done is to limit the number of BB on the road.

Maybe I can suggest to LTA and the bus operators certain measures.

First, identify those routes that are people are traveling long distance and also the routes that has high number of passenger as well as a high turnover (likely most of them will be feeder routes)

Deploy all DD on those long distance routes,

For those routes that are out of town (e.g. feeder services) there should be no issue deploying BB. (Current situation now is that SMRT Buses are replacing the BB with WAB smaller capacity models)

For those routes that passes by town, moderate the BB (maybe every alternate trip), etc. BB bus services can stop at different bus stops so that it doesn't severely block the other buses. Another alternative can be to disallow BB to go into town.


The current situation now is that in the neighborhood that I lived in, the interchange operated by SMRT, I see many occurrence of a service route that require BB (bus is so full till the driver have a problem closing the front doors) is deprived of the BB whereas another service route which does not require BB(enough capacity to have just a few people standing) using the much needed BB.

And also, I hope LTA can allow more BB on the roads, especially in the neighborhood areas where it is really needed.