|
FIND OUT FIRST: Drivers can now plot their journeys with a new online mapping service. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
|
PUBLIC transport commuters now have a one-stop interactive travel guide at www.transitlink.com.sg
The Public Transport Journey Planner, funded by the Land Transport Authority, is the first initiative to integrate the travel routes plied by the two public transport operators here: SBS Transit and SMRT Corp.
Previously, commuters had to visit the respective companies' sites to get travel information.
The new planner allows them to key in their boarding point and destination, either as an address or a landmark. It has options for shortest travel time or cheapest fare, and choices of bus, train or a combination of both.
It will list one or more travel options according to the distance the commuter is willing to walk to a bus stop or train station.
If the network is not too busy, the options pop up within 20 seconds or so. They are tabled neatly, listing fares for both cash and ez-link card payments and travel time, excluding walking time and traffic delays.
It provides details of where bus stops and train stations are, including street map pop-ups when required.
The travel planner is on a three-month trial. Commuter feedback will be taken into consideration for improvements.
Based on tests by The Straits Times, the system can be improved if it allows users to have the option of longer walking distances to an MRT station.
The current options are 200m, 300m and 400m for both bus stops and train stations. A past survey by SMRT Corp indicated that commuters typically walk 580m to 870m to a station.
Bank executive Jon Yeo, 39, concurred. It takes him about 10 minutes to walk from his office in Republic Plaza to South Bridge Road, to take bus service 124 back to Telok Blangah.
'It costs 90 cents and the bus stops right in front of my block,' he said. 'But the options the system listed cost more and stop farther away.'
Public relations executive Geraldine Lam, 26, said that having options such as a maximum walking distance and a choice of taking a train or bus were 'quite good'. But access speed was an issue for her as she found that the system was 'busy' frequently.
Still, having to go to one site instead of two was a step up.
Undergraduate Bill Yeo, 23, said he found the system 'very easy to use and very precise'.
CHRISTOPHER TAN
|
