Alert commuters to seats on bus' upper deck

On Wednesday morning, I boarded SMRT bus service 176 during the morning peak hour at Hillview Avenue just after the Lam Soon Industrial Building.

When the bus, a double-decker, turned into Bukit Batok East Avenue 2, many more commuters boarded it. The same thing happened at the following two stops.

When more people tried to get on board one stop later, many failed to, as the bus appeared to be packed to capacity, judging by the commuters standing close to the entrance.

But where I was seated, I could see close to 40 seats available on the upper deck.

As the entrance to the upper deck was blocked, many people were unable to see the electronic sign indicating that there were available seats there.

Buses are now equipped with a system so that announcements can be made urging commuters to move to the back to allow others to board. This is a vast improvement from the days when the bus driver needed to shout his message across.

Perhaps, for all double-decker buses, this announcement could also alert commuters to the availability of seats on the upper deck.

This would allow commuters to move up as well as in.

The bus could then accommodate more passengers and alleviate the frustration of those unable to board.

Bennie Cheok

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.