My thoughts about people hating on “TooT”
Hi guys, Howard here. The title may sound random, but if you’re curious enough to proceed on, just sit back and read further. And nope, I’m not paid to write this.
Here’s an overarching belief I would like to debunk. Why do some bus fans still bear hatred towards Tower Transit even after five years of operations?
For context: “TooT” is sometimes used when mocking TTS.
Tower Transit Singapore (TTS) is the first new operator to Singapore’s public bus industry since the mid-2010s. It was a product of the then-new contracting model by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to increase competition between public bus operators. But of course, there were so much hype in its early days as it was a new player to what was used to be a duopoly. Two of my neighbourhood bus routes happen to fall under the first tendered bus package, and TTS happens to win that very package my two neighbourhood routes are under. Having lived in a town dominated by SBS buses since birth, I’d consider myself more enthusiastic for the change. Like many bus fans, I had my excitement and expectations from the then-new operator. However, it fell short of their expectations as a new operator. As a new operator, they must have an edge over the existing bus operators, right?
Here’s where I start debunking the possible beliefs that started the hatred:
1. “TTS’ buses are slow”
Well, well, priorities. This has to be the biggest reason why bus fans dislike TTS. Just only a few weeks after its first takeover at Bukit Batok, the journey on their buses seems to be noticeably longer than before most of the time. At times, buses would crawl to the point that they are hogging the road, or they would just stop at bus stops for an extended time even if there are no passengers. That’s because they’ve gone by the book — to strictly follow LTA’s then-new headway and scheduling regulation that aims to reduce bus bunching. Even if you don’t like such scheduling, it won’t go away. Since then, TTS has been known to the commuters for being slow. Don’t blame TTS; blame the big daddy instead. But nowadays, they aren’t usually that slow anymore.
2. “TTS is not receptive to new bus models”
Can you believe that TTS only started accepting new bus models since 2020? That’s only one year more to the end of their first term! Sceptics would think that TTS would only be able to play with their electric buses for a short time until their contract ended. Before that, there were bus models like MAN A22 (Euro 6) and MAN A95 (Euro 5/6) that came in brand new; every public bus operator received these bus models except for TTS. The first thing anyone would ask is, why didn’t TTS receive any new bus models? Running a bus requires money, so leasing new bus models into its fleet means more money is required. This may be seen as a cost-cutting measure, but they’d probably rather use the money on somewhere that they think is more beneficial, at the cost of bus fans’ satisfaction. Not to mention, TTS put some of their buses into storage on multiple occasions.
TTS eventually have more varieties in its fleet due to the rise of electric buses and 3-door double decker buses, and soon enough even more bus models due to the transition to their second bus package (albeit fixed to its own zone). Although TTS might be late to take in newer bus models, I’m still glad they eventually did.
3. The major accidents that TTS is involved in
Everyone makes mistakes, so do bus drivers themselves. Even when an accident involves a public bus, people are too quick to condemn the whole company instead. More so if it is a company that they dislike. The Bukit Batok Interchange accident involving a bus that fell to its side had already stirred up a lot of attention, but the Yishun taxi stand accident involving the ‘god-like’ MAN A95 demonstrator has certainly caused a bigger controversy within the bus community. Haters were ever too ready to make use of the accident to condemn the whole company even more, as if they will never revive that bus. Come on lah, only the upper deck windscreen and the side window were damaged, although three people were injured, but I don’t see a reason for haters to overreact. Besides, it has returned to serve more commuters since 22nd December. More safety measures were also implemented to the driver’s console to warn drivers when they approach low-height obstacles.
My thoughts may be different if I wasn’t living in a neighbourhood served by two TTS bus routes. Maybe I won’t have the same excitement and expectations if I were to live in a different neighbourhood. Maybe I could’ve been a part of the trolls. Maybe because I’ve lived in a neighbourhood served by two TTS bus routes, I’m secretly rooting for them to prove the haters wrong. Even if a different operator, i.e., SMRT, Go-Ahead, or even any other overseas ones, took over my two neighbourhood bus routes back in mid-2016 or mid-2021, I’ll still give them the same hype and expectations. At the end of the day, it’s still a bus that brings you to your destination. If TTS is the kind of bus operator that LTA wants, then they’ll be here to stay. Otherwise, why would they win another bus package? They would be out from Singapore’s bus industry by the end of their first contract term. But without a doubt, their bus service is much better than before. Howard out!
