Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Letter to Straits Times forum: A comprehensive transport website needed instead of "Live" buses information at bus stops.

I refer to the article " All 4500 bus stops to have bus route directory by month's end" . It is mention that the Public Transport Promotion Division looks to cities such as Seoul and Helsinki for reference and I suggest an unlikely target for LTA to learn from - Shanghai. For the past one and the half years I was in Shanghai, all the bus stops already had bus route directory. More importantly, what really helped foreigners like me to rely on the public transport system there is the existance of website like Ddmap.com. In this website, a user can easily find out how to get from point A to B using public transport, being offered several routes arranged by travelling distance.


In singapore, I only know of street directory.com and SBS - Season Pass website. However, Tibs buses are excluded for both websites. Furthermore, Streetdirectory.com lacks the simplicity of DDmap that just offers you several routes to choose from. Streetdirectory.com offers you many options such as "Direct service" etc, but the route thrown up may not be the shortest. I found that SBS - SeasonPass offers the shortest route and many to choose from. Alas! They lack the travel route on a map offered by Streetdirectory.com. DDmap offers all of the above and they have also harnessed the power of Web 2.0 for users to suggest a better route should they know one. While DDmap is a private enterprise, the public transport website of the Beijing government offers the same services.

I understand that under LTA's management, buses are supposed to arrive at bus stops every ten minutes. If that is the case, personally what matters more to me is not the "Live" function showing that my bus will arrive in a couple of minutes, but rather a website that enables me to know that I can get to a certain destination conveniently and quickly, and not resort to taxi or driving.

Tay Guan Hock
Blk 204 Serangoon Central #09-106
81399491

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