Continued from Page 2:
- Our thoughts on each route amendment
- Advantages and Disadvantages of each move
Post-Rationalisation Changes to Bukit Panjang Bus Services (April 2022)
On 14 March 2022, Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC (Zhenghua), Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui, made a Facebook post announcing the opening of Senja Close and conversion of Senja Link to one-way traffic, affecting the routes of various bus routes in Senja from Sunday, 3 April 2022.
At the same time, it was also announced that the route of Service 972M will be extended to serve Pending Rd, Petir Rd and Dairy Farm Rd. This latest change was seen as an indirect backtracking by the LTA in restoring a full day connecting bus service between Petir Rd and the City area of Orchard Road, previously offered by the defunct Service 700/700A.
As a result of the route extension for Service 972M, peak hour Service 971, which was previously converted from Express Service 971E and extended to serve Pending Rd, Petir Rd, Dairy Farm Rd, will be discontinued from Monday, 4 April 2022. However, the Facebook post by the MP also indicated the introduction of a “new Express service option provided by a private operator”, which will likely take over the role of Service 971.
Timeline:
- 2020 (3 Aug): Discontinuation of Service 700/700A and route amendments to Service 171 and 972 published. Members of Parliament react negatively to the news.
- 2020 (4 Aug): LTA explains that the discontinuation of Service 700/700A was undertaken out of financial consideration
- 2020 (7 Aug): Chee Hong Tat explains LTA’s stance, held meeting with Members of Parliament the following day
- 2020 (13 Aug): Announcement of amended plans
- 2022 (14 Mar): Discontinuation of Service 971 and further amendment to Service 972M to serve Pending Rd and Petir Rd published.
See Also
- Controversy over Bus 14 Route Amendment
- Controversy over Bus 39 Route Amendment
- Controversy over Bus 76 Route Amendment
- Controversy over Downtown Line 3 Bus Rationalisation
- Controversy over Thomson-East Coast Line 3 Bus Rationalisation
LTA had to backtrack in all but name (972M) despite ministers initially defending their decision by citing subsidies costing millions of dollars. Moreover, LTA announced the changes when public transport usage was at an all-time low during COVID-19, which should have softened the impact.
Why so? Politics! Bukit Panjang SMC, where the impact would be felt the largest, had unusually stiff competition just a month earlier from Dr Paul. So it seems “populism” matters after all.