You might’ve noticed something different yesterday if you took bus service 143, which travels between Jurong East and Toa Payoh via Singapore’s central area.
…You did notice something different, right?
Well, we don’t blame you for missing it. The above Tower Transit bus with three doors is the only such bus currently launched on the roads as part of an initiative by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to evaluate the feasibility of these buses with the intention of assisting passenger flow.
Its main feature: an additional staircase that allows commuters aboard the upper deck to exit the bus in a smoother fashion. Commuters on the lower deck will still exit the bus as usual, of course. As per the standard of a test bus, much-needed utilities such as USB ports for commuters and vibrating seats (for potentially sleepy drivers on the road, not for massages) have been implemented. On the subject of facilities for drivers, an in-built system called Mobileye will be utilized to alert drivers to any blind spots by way of visual and audio cues.
A second experimental bus — a single decker with the same number of doors – will be launched in the second quarter of 2017 by SMRT.
By this point you may be wondering, “What else have you got, LTA?”. Glad you asked.
A dash of Singlish — a refreshing change from the usual repertoire of bland messages — should help garner the attention of Singaporeans.
In a report by The Straits Times, these Singlish signs are all accompanied by “short explanations in standard English.”
However, like all new features implemented in Singapore, there’ll be some who are less open about the idea. A 34-year-old design engineer said, “Tourists who do not know Singlish might misunderstand the sign and leave with a bad impression of Singaporeans’ standard of English.”
A very #nochill sentiment, but it seems like his opinion is one of a minority. Many others are for the Singlish signs, and they told the unhappy ones to relak lah, bro.
DMKKS says
I was wondering why LTA is so concerned about public transport issue and chose to impose huge taxes on private cars.
COE, ERP., GPS, Parking. There are no sign of relieve. temp drop in COE is in preparation for the GPS implementation, everyone knows that. The rests has increased substantially. open space parking was increased from $65 to $80 (23% increased) after implementing Wilson parking (DUH)
Then it dawns onto me that on the board of directors for SMRT, many are playing leading roles previously in the government sector. I wonder what connections SMRT has with LTA behind the scenes…oh not to mention the silent and hidden investors.
We all know that traffic jams are caused by. Bus lanes, lorries and trucks hogging 2/3 of a regular 3 lanes road not to mention roadworks etc all during peak hours. No efforts has been done to reduce this instead, Transport minister said that implementing ERP, high COE, 10 years car life and fine will solve the problem.
In other words, the strategy is:
Find a problem
If no problem, Create a problem
Then tell the public that its bad… real bad
Implement a solution
Charge the public for the solution, best if it could be recurring income
Review and increase again after elections
This is indeed world class thinking. Kudos to the scholars in LTA and our ministers.