Back in Singapore, LTA (Land Transport Authority) have
announced that 'Lush Green' has been
voted for by the public as the new colour for their bus liveries. This is a
quick news update from my previous article.
From LTA Press release
The votes are in! Singapore has chosen
Lush Green for the new unified livery for the Singapore Bus. It was a close
call with Lush Green edging out Bright Red by just 144 votes in the public voting exercise which ended on 5 February
2016. In total, 57,505 valid votes were
cast in the one-month voting period.
The colour green depicts environmental
friendliness and is a symbol of growth, vitality, prosperity and progress.
Members of the public can expect to see the brand new livery on new buses
starting from the middle of this year.
The unified livery colour is a major milestone in the transition to the
Bus Contracting Model that will begin in the middle of this year. With the
transition to this new contracting model,
the Government will gradually own all
public buses and the common livery will create a unified and distinctive
identity for our Singapore Bus.
I’ve also found out that Alexander Dennis
has unveiled their Enviro500 (3 axles)
with 3 door and 2 staircases.
From Channel News Asia
The chosen bus colour was unveiled by
Senior Minister of State for Transport Ng Chee Meng on the sidelines of the
inaugural Bus Carnival held on Friday (Mar 11).
At the carnival, the public will be
able to give feedback on how the interior of the new buses should look like
based on two new concept buses.
The concept buses on show had three
doors and two staircases, with new features like USB charging ports and a Passenger Information Display that will
give real-time information on the next
bus-stop along its route.
LTA said that with three doors and two stairways, the aim is to speed up boarding and
exiting of the buses.
"So with the separate door - the third door - what we hope is that people would
be less adverse to moving into the buses, and also when they are alighting the
bus, there would be less conflict with them and those boarding the buses. So
then we will reduce pick up times at bus stops," said Mr Yeo Teck Guan,
group director of public transport at LTA.
Some commuters Channel NewsAsia spoke
to said there is room for improvement.
"I think the design has to be
improved further, so that passengers, once you board the bus, you cannot hang
around in the front," said Mr Neil Ho, a retiree. "You must move
inside to make way for other passengers to board. And secondly, the lower deck
of the bus should have more seats, because not all elderly, or handicapped
people or even children will climb the stairs. That is in itself, especially
for handicapped people and the elderly, is a problem."
"The driver's service is very
important as well," said Ms Rita Gan, an operations director.
"Besides knowing the language and knowing the locations, to also explain
to the tourists where it is to direct them. As well as also, with the
additional door, when kids are rushing in from the back door, he must have the
right attitude based on safety, it's most important."
Image taken from Asia One News
article.
So the New Routemaster is to feature an extra door and
staircase at the rear to improve the flow of boarding. TFL ordered another
200 New Routemaster buses, yes, those hybrid buses with 3 doors and
2 staircases and as the New Routemaster designs continue to evolve we now see
the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City,
but the question is 'after the New Routemaster project ends
with a fleet of 1,000 will TFL require operators to buy buses with the extra
door and staircase?'
It’s interesting to watch how transport
services around the world progress and hopefully we'll continue to see new
innovations in the bus industry.
Here's a quick update on the New Bus
for West Yorkshire:
@CLondoner92 @ScottPoole11 @FirstWestYorks @NewBusWestYorks apparently the NBWY'S project has been canceled— Buses of Yorkshire (@wybuses) February 29, 2016
I also wrote an article about
their project, so it's a shame that the project was cancelled;
hopefully First West Yorkshire will roll out buses with the designs based on
the New Routemaster, like the Enviro400H City.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92