Earlier this month, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that it would be discontinuing Bus Service 167 due to falling ridership.
However, some residents have expressed disappointment over the move, claiming that it would bring inconvenience. A petition was later created calling for a reversal of the move.
On Tuesday (28 Nov), LTA announced that Bus Service 167 will continue to operate, albeit with 30-minute intervals from 17 Dec.
Source: Land Transport Guru
However, the authority sought commuters’ understanding that it is not always possible to preserve direct bus connections for every journey. They explained that doing so will lead to non-optimal usage of Singapore’s finite resources.
On Tuesday (28 Nov), LTA announced that it will not be discontinuing Bus Service 167.
The news comes shortly after an earlier announcement that they would be discontinuing the service running from 10 Dec. The bus service plies the route from Sembawang to Bukit Merah.
Although the service will remain in operation, it will only be available in 30-minute intervals. The longer waiting time will commence on 17 Dec.
Despite accommodating to commuters’ requests, LTA seeks their understanding that preserving direct bus connections for every journey isn’t possible. Doing so could apparently lead to a non-optimal allocation of limited resources.
This becomes an even more important issue when new estates and workplaces pop up, requiring the reallocation of resources.
Nonetheless, LTA said it understands that some commuters may need more time to adjust to alternative travelling options.
LTA’s reversal came after commuters started a petition calling for Bus Services 75 and 167 to be reinstated, citing the inconvenience that the move causes.
Source: change.org
The petition has garnered over 750 signatures at the time of writing.
In its previous announcement, LTA said that Bus Service 167 had seen falling ridership since Stage 3 of the Thomson East Coast Line (TEL3) opened a year ago.
To prevent duplication of transport services, the authority said it planned to discontinue Bus Service 167.
In its latest announcement, LTA explained that it arrived at that conclusion after studying the availability of alternative services.
These include public train services like the TEL, as well as other public bus services.
Meanwhile, LTA will go ahead with the increased frequency of Bus Service 980. Similar to Bus Service 167, Bus Service 980 also services the area between Sembawang and Novena.
At the same time, LTA will retain parts of Bus Service 167’s route with “stronger demand or unique connectivity”. However, they will supplement it with other services for which they’ve amended the routes accordingly:
Likewise, these changes will take effect on 17 Dec.
Even though Bus Service 167 has survived the axe this time around, we hope commuters will be able to see things from LTA’s standpoint and understand their need for optimal resource allocation.
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Featured image adapted from Mike Brocklebank on Flickr.
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