LTA to ramp up bus priority measures starting mid-October

200km of bus lanes targeted by end-2013.

According to a release, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will expand the existing bus priority measures, including the Bus Lane and Mandatory Give Way to Buses (MGWTB) schemes, to more locations island-wide.

From mid October, implementation works will begin for 25km of new bus lanes at selected road corridors island-wide. These roads are selected as there are sufficiently high numbers of buses plying along the corridor, and there are sufficient traffic lanes to allow the implementation of new bus lanes.

Currently, there are 23km of full-day bus lanes, and 155km of normal bus lanes. With the completion of the new bus lanes by end of 2013, there will be about 200km of bus lanes island-wide.

Besides new bus lanes, bus commuters can also expect more bus bays to be under the MGWTB scheme by end 2014. LTA will begin works to implement the scheme to another 135 bus bays from November 2013 onwards.

The expansion of the bus priority measures are aimed at improving overall reliability and speeds of buses en-route, so that commuters can experience more regular waiting times. It will also complement the ongoing Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP), where additional buses will be added. By improving bus reliability, it will help shorten overall bus journey time and make public transport more attractive.

The new bus lanes will operate during the operational hours for the normal bus lane scheme from 7.30am to 9.30am and 5pm to 8pm on weekdays. The new bus lanes will be progressively implemented from mid October to the end of the year. The first 2.8km of new bus lanes along Kampong Bahru Road, Lorong 6 Toa Payoh and Orchard Boulevard are expected to be implemented from Monday, 14 October 2013.

6. LTA will announce the implementation dates for the other stretches progressively. Please refer to Annex A for the full list of roads where new bus lanes will be extended to.

7. The Bus Lane Scheme gives buses priority on the roads, while the MGWTB scheme enables buses to enter and exit bus stops more smoothly, which improves over bus journey times to commuters. Since the last bus lane expansion programme in 2008, LTA has observed speed improvements of up to 7% along bus lanes.