Hoorah for the third Essential Freshmen's Guide! It's officially a series now. I want tackle a certain problem that actually affects more than just Tembusu College's freshmen, but the commuters of NUS's shuttle services as a whole.
The issue really is with the shuttle bus services between U-Town and the main campus. Most of us are familiar with the problem: the buses don't come frequently enough to ferry students to and fro U-Town – especially D2 service that brings students from U-Town to the Arts/ Business/ Design & Environment faculties.
There actually has been an a very persistent stream of complaints about this, which has resulted in a slight improvement of the bus frequencies and an NUS-wide alteration (and enforcement) in the schedule structure. Lectures now end twenty five minutes to the hour – while tutorials, fifteen – to accommodate the traveling time. Even with these changes in place, there is still a massive build-up of students every two hours at the U-Town bus stop.
So complaints have been made and action seems to have been taken. Is this still a problem with the bus frequencies? Perhaps. Can more things be done to improve the service? Obviously, but not just on the part of the service providers'.
What I noticed is that this little mess with the buses has stirred some anxieties in students and made them pretty ruthless patrons. Some of us push and shove to get on the bus, while others unknowingly hold the bus up. Maybe I exaggerate (okay, I am exaggerating) but I think that as a body of commuters, we can afford to make the whole service a bit more efficient, hence this post. So begins my basic guide to shuttle bus etiquette:
Enter from the front; leave from the back
By nature of the shuttle bus being a "free" service, it doesn't matter whether one boards the bus from the front or back. However, the majority of commuters persistently enter from the rear. It's a strange phenomenon given that as Singaporean public bus-takers we always enter from the front. But so far, this is simply a cute quirk right?
Well, not when patrons on the bus also want to alight from the same door. What happens is that boarding passengers crowd around the door desperately waiting for their chance to get in the bus, while alighting passengers have to wriggle their way out. In short, everyone blocks everyone's way.
How the ridiculousness of this situation eludes so many people equally eludes me. But that is why I propose this solution: enter from the front; leave from the back. It's almost counter-counter-intuitive. There's a smoother flow of passengers in and out the bus. Passengers can board as quickly as passengers alight, eliminating a lot of waiting time.
Don't force your way in
Just like the previous suggestion, this one seems so basic, yet taken fro granted. It almost goes without saying that it's not nice to shove. Interestingly though, attempting to squeeze in a vehicle seem to be better tolerated of late, especially in MRTs, so maybe this ethic doesn't apply so strongly. What does apply in the situation, is that the consequences are slightly different.
Unlike the MRTs, our shuttle buses need a buffer space near the back door. Sensors are installed above the back door, so that the doors will not close if it is obstructed. The most common obstruction is that last person to board the bus from the back, determined to stake his/ her place.
If you happen to be that last person to board, please have the decency to move in (if space allows) or step out. It's not very nice that the bus and all the other passengers have to be stalled because you're triggering the door sensor crazy.
Move in
I am being to sound like a public service announcement. As with all public transport, it's only nice that you make room for the patrons entering the vehicle. Same thing applies for our shuttle buses. Don't stand around the entrances chatting to your friends, move to the rear! I don't think this needs much more explanation.
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I know these three suggestions I have made may seem very trivial, and reality this issue is not a huge deal.
But, within what I have expressed are my own hopes for a more considerate community, that could make commuting a slightly more pleasant experience if everyone did their part. I also hope that as patrons of NUS's shuttle bus service, we start to recognize that we all play part in ensuring the buses run on time.
It's not always the service's fault for not sending out enough buses, which is evident in how there sometimes is a build-up of D2 buses: One bus typically gets held up at the bus stop because everyone tries to squeeze into it. Before you know it, the next two buses arrive too, but they leave half empty.
My suspicion is that there usually is enough space on the buses for everyone, if only everyone were not so hung up about getting onto the first bus that comes and just be a bit more gracious.
So chill guys. Start thinking about the class that everybody on the bus has to go for instead of just your own, and stop holding up the bus. Thank you.
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