Saturday, September 15, 2007
SBS Transit
SBS Transit, that indispensable public transport company, has decided to raise fares again. The usual reasons will be rising costs etc etc.
The main gripe of frequent commuters is the appalling frequency of SBS buses. It is quite common to end up waiting for 20 minutes or more for a bus. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens often enough to be very irritating.
The other day, I was waiting for bus 95 at Buona Vista. It was 11pm. According to the information panel, the last bus is at around 1140pm and the waiting time for PM off peak is about 15 minutes. I can't quite remember the exact details but the basic idea is that the maximum waiting time is about half that of the time remaining till the last bus. Assuming maximum waiting time, it seemed reasonable to expect another bus before the last bus.
At around 1120pm, with no sign of the bus, I decided to check IRIS, which informed me that it would be 17 minutes to the next bus, and that would be the last bus. In other words, there was no bus from around 11pm until the last bus at nearly 11.40pm. 40 minutes between buses, when the sign said that it should be about 15.
Now of course commuters should be understanding during peak periods, when traffic is heavy and bus bunching can occur. There's even an explanation on their website on how bus bunching occurs. However, this was after 11pm, the road was nearly empty, and there wasn't any bus bunching. After all, there was no bus.
I emailed them through their online feedback form, and got a reply about a week later.
Dear Sir
Please refer to your feedback received on 5 September 2007.
2 We regret to learn of the inconvenience you experienced while using Service 95.
3 Following your feedback, we have since reminded the bus captains to adhere to the schedule as closely as possible with a view to ensure service reliability.
4 We will continue to monitor the service closely and if need be, we will not hesitate to make adjustments to the service.
5 Thank you for your feedback.
Yours sincerely
XXXXXXX
for Deputy Director
Corporate Communications
SBS Transit Ltd
It reads like something off a template and sounds like they won't be doing anything. I wasn't expecting them to actually do anything, but it would be nice to get a more sincere apology.
That isn't the only thing which SBS is doing poorly. Despite all their hype about nice comfortable air conditioned buses, the rides aren't comfortable because of poorly trained drivers. Many of them do not know how to drive smoothly. It's not because they had to react quickly to avoid accidents either. When coming to a stop, some of them like to pump the brakes, which results in a most distracting start stop bouncing feeling. Others like to brake at the last minute, which results in a jarring stop. Some of them like to do both.
It does take some effort to drive smoothly. The driver must reduce the braking right before the bus comes to a stop. This will result in a smooth stop instead of a bone jarring shudder. Either they were never taught to do this or they can't be bothered to.
All of this explains the displeasure at the latest round of fare increases. A couple of cents might not seem like a lot, but it adds up. We're not paying for better service frequencies or smoother rides, we're paying to cover the fuel wastage caused by jack rabbit starts and stops by lazy bus drivers who cannot look far ahead and plan their speed properly.
The main gripe of frequent commuters is the appalling frequency of SBS buses. It is quite common to end up waiting for 20 minutes or more for a bus. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens often enough to be very irritating.
The other day, I was waiting for bus 95 at Buona Vista. It was 11pm. According to the information panel, the last bus is at around 1140pm and the waiting time for PM off peak is about 15 minutes. I can't quite remember the exact details but the basic idea is that the maximum waiting time is about half that of the time remaining till the last bus. Assuming maximum waiting time, it seemed reasonable to expect another bus before the last bus.
At around 1120pm, with no sign of the bus, I decided to check IRIS, which informed me that it would be 17 minutes to the next bus, and that would be the last bus. In other words, there was no bus from around 11pm until the last bus at nearly 11.40pm. 40 minutes between buses, when the sign said that it should be about 15.
Now of course commuters should be understanding during peak periods, when traffic is heavy and bus bunching can occur. There's even an explanation on their website on how bus bunching occurs. However, this was after 11pm, the road was nearly empty, and there wasn't any bus bunching. After all, there was no bus.
I emailed them through their online feedback form, and got a reply about a week later.
Dear Sir
Please refer to your feedback received on 5 September 2007.
2 We regret to learn of the inconvenience you experienced while using Service 95.
3 Following your feedback, we have since reminded the bus captains to adhere to the schedule as closely as possible with a view to ensure service reliability.
4 We will continue to monitor the service closely and if need be, we will not hesitate to make adjustments to the service.
5 Thank you for your feedback.
Yours sincerely
XXXXXXX
for Deputy Director
Corporate Communications
SBS Transit Ltd
It reads like something off a template and sounds like they won't be doing anything. I wasn't expecting them to actually do anything, but it would be nice to get a more sincere apology.
That isn't the only thing which SBS is doing poorly. Despite all their hype about nice comfortable air conditioned buses, the rides aren't comfortable because of poorly trained drivers. Many of them do not know how to drive smoothly. It's not because they had to react quickly to avoid accidents either. When coming to a stop, some of them like to pump the brakes, which results in a most distracting start stop bouncing feeling. Others like to brake at the last minute, which results in a jarring stop. Some of them like to do both.
It does take some effort to drive smoothly. The driver must reduce the braking right before the bus comes to a stop. This will result in a smooth stop instead of a bone jarring shudder. Either they were never taught to do this or they can't be bothered to.
All of this explains the displeasure at the latest round of fare increases. A couple of cents might not seem like a lot, but it adds up. We're not paying for better service frequencies or smoother rides, we're paying to cover the fuel wastage caused by jack rabbit starts and stops by lazy bus drivers who cannot look far ahead and plan their speed properly.
posted by cosine @ 11:09 AM 
