Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap (Aljunied): Madam, I have received feedback from my Kaki Bukit residents requesting for enhancement of the public bus services serving my ward covering namely, Bedok North Street 3 and partially Bedok North Avenue 1, 2 and 3.
Currently Kaki Bukit ward is being served by bus services 225G, 225W, 137 and 137A. Buses 225G and 225W are feeder services, starting and ending at Bedok Interchange and they cover the loop of Bedok North Avenue 1, Avenue 2 and Street 3, each going in the opposite direction. I understand from residents that these two feeder services have been around since the early days of Kaki Bukit estate.
The newest and only trunk bus service that was made available to Kaki Bukit ward is bus service 137, launched in October 2017, in tandem with the opening of the Downtown Line, stage 3. Bus service 137A, which is a short-trip service variant of bus service 137 was introduced in February 2019. Bus service 137A only operates on weekday mornings to cater to peak hours commuting, making a total of four trips – first at 7.18 am and final at 8.07 am.
One of the common feedback received is to enhance the connectivity of the feeder services serving Kaki Bukit to wider parts of Bedok North, Bedok South and also Bedok Reservoir by introducing Townlink feeder service. Such a service can be found in some HDB towns such as Pasir Ris. Many who had called for this mentioned that such Townlink feeder service will, in particular, benefit groups with different mobility needs, such as the elderly, persons with disabilities and families with young children because it will do away with the hassle of bus transfers.
There are also requests to increase the frequency for bus services 137 and 137A during peak hours. The feedback is that these services is often crowded and impossible to board, especially for residents taking the bus services from the last three stops away from the Downtown Line, Bedok North station bus stop.
Madam, I do hope the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will look into this feedback and, if possible, conduct a study and see how best to improve the overall public bus service, especially on bus connectivity, for Kaki Bukit ward.
Ministry of Transport
2 March 2023
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2086
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 