I REFER to the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) introduction of a 5km bus lane from Bukit Panjang to Upper Bukit Timah on Oct 28. This stretch was already congested during peak hours, which was why Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) was imposed a few months ago. With the bus lane, traffic congestion has worsened and the LTA should reconsider its introduction for these reasons.

First, public infrastructure is being used inefficiently as there are only seven bus services plying this stretch during peak hours. The Trans-Island Bus Services (Tibs) website pegs the average service frequency at about 10 minutes. This means that in an hour, there are only 42 services plying this stretch.

On the other hand, there are about 1,200 vehicles squeezed into the two remaining lanes during the same period. I arrived at this figure based on the assumption that the average frequency of a car passing through a particular place, say, the Hume Park bus stop, is three seconds. Dividing 3,600 seconds (an hour) by the average time it takes a car to pass a generic spot (three seconds) gives us an estimate of the number of cars. So, we have a scenario of 42 vehicles enjoying a single lane while 1,200 vehicles are squeezed into the two remaining lanes during a peak hour of say, between 8am and 9am. Is this an efficient use of public infrastructure?

Second, the bus lane poses a danger to motorists because its narrowness inhibits cars wishing to filter safely.The bus lane scheme may work in the city where there are usually five to six lanes, but it does not work in stretches like this.

I urge the LTA to review the method and implementation of bus lanes in areas such as Bukit Panjang to Upper Bukit Timah.

As a compromise, allow even-numbered vehicles to ply bus lanes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and odd-numbered vehicles to use it on Mondays and Wednesdays. That leaves Friday which can be alternated between even and odd months for even- and odd-numbered vehicles respectively.

Low Kok Soon

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 5, 2008.

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