By Sam Tan
I am officially writing in to express my extreme unhappiness about the schedule of bus 740 from Changi business park to Sembawang.
As you can see from the screenshot from their website, there is regular intervals from 5.45pm. I have been waiting at plaza 8 from 5.40pm and there were no bus right up till 6.15pm.And this not an isolated incident. On other weekdays when I reached plaza 8 at 6.05 pm, at times I do not get to board a bus till 6.20 or even 6.30pm. I take the return trip at least 2 times a week and I have been constantly disappointed by the schedule times.
Is this the kind of Premium service level I am expected to pay? What are the kind of KPI does LTA has in place for these contractors? My employer have been kind to install one hour time off on Fridays for all staff at 5pm. This is to ensure work life balance so that I can have more time with my kids and family. But if I do make the effort to take the first bus but do not actually managed to take it due to no fault of mine, what work life balance can I have? It’s just like a regular day.
Taking public transport back to Sembawang from Changi business park can be a nightmare with unforseen breakdown happening when you least expected. So if you do not hold contractors on their schedule, please, scrap bus service 740.
The above letter was sent to LTA but to TOC’s knowledge, there was no reply from the agency.
However, MyBus responded to TOC’s enquries and the below is their reply to Sam Tan’s letter.
Let us explain how Premium Bus Services (PBS) work.
Take note that PBS are not contracted routes rolled out by LTA. PBS are routes that Bus operators (BO), include private bus operators, do research on their own and propose to Public Transport Council (PTC).
The fare revenue collected goes to BO.
You may refer to www.publictransport.sg for more details on PBS.
Back to the feedback:
Our bus start from SUTD (pt 1) and will reach Plaza 8 (pt 7) around 10-15 mins.
We hope our passengers understand that the time stated is the move out time from 1st point (SUTD).
Due to strong demand for the earliest bus, our 1st bus is usually full capacity by the time it reach pt 5. The 1st bus will not turn into Plaza 8 when it is already full capacity. Our PBS 740 2nd bus onwards will turn into Plaza 8.
The affected passenger could have just missed the 2nd bus.
The 3rd bus reach Plaza 8 around 6.15pm to 6.20pm.
We suggest passengers (trying to get into the 1st bus) to wait at pt 3 (outside IBM).
We hope we provide some clarity to this matter.
