Review process reveals 22 bus services improved

Improvements include deploying higher capacity buses or adding more bus trips along sectors that experience consistent heavy ridership.

A joint news release by the Land Transport Authority, SBS Transit, and SMRT reported that 22 bus services have been improved and an additional 115 weekly bus trips added between April and June 2012 as part of the ongoing quarterly review process.

In the latest quarterly review SBS Transit improved 16 bus services. More trips have been added to four bus services and higher capacity double-deck buses deployed on 12 bus services during the morning and evening peak periods. It was also the first time that double-deck buses were introduced on SBS Transit Services 90 and 109.

Meanwhile new short trips on bus services 13 and 98 have been introduced along heavily-utilised stretches during the morning peak period.

On the other hand, SMRT has enhanced six bus services in the last three months. More trips have been added to Services 811 and 901 during the morning peak period, and to Service 806 on Saturday morning and evening off-peak periods. For Services 854 and 969, scheduled trips of higher capacity bendy buses were also adjusted to better match higher passenger demand during the peak one-hour period.

SMRT has also begun operating an additional trip for Service 67. An empty bus starts its journey from bus stop number 42071, located at Upper Bukit Timah Road, towards Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange. An additional trip has also been added to Service 969, where an empty bus starts its journey from bus stop number 57129 located at Sembawang Road, towards Tampines Bus Interchange, to enable more commuters to board before morning peak hours.

The release said this latest round of improvements raises the number of unique bus services that have been improved to 110 since the quarterly review process began in June 2010, with some bus services having been improved multiple times.