Powered by Natural Gas - 175
Back at Lorong 1 Geylang Bus Terminal for today, I started with Trunk Service 175, a service that deploys several Volvo B10BLE Compressed Natural Gas-powered buses. There are only 12 of these buses in Singapore, they were acquired in 2002 for a trial on Compressed Natural Gas-powered vehicles, and were very environmentally-friendly for the time due to its low exhaust emissions,
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| Volvo B10BLE reversing out, with distinct natural gas tanks on its roof. |
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| Interior |
These buses are not wheelchair-accessible due to their lack of a wheelchair-ramp, despite having step-free entry. Hence, they are likely to be phased out before 2020. It is always great to ride these non-standard bus models once in a while, as a break from the buses I'm always used to taking.
Route 175 runs from Lorong 1 Geylang through to Clementi, passing through Bugis, Orchard Road, Depot Road, Pasir Panjang and West Coast.
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| Outside Clementi MRT Station (175) |
Clementi Feeders - 282, 284, 285
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| Clementi Bus Interchange |
Upon getting off 175 after reaching Clementi, as well as having lunch, I took the unique Feeder 284, unique because it is the shortest daily operating bus service in Singapore. (excluding 902, which only operates on weekday peak hours)
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| Clementi Avenue 4 End (284) |
Out of Clementi Interchange, the route takes the bus north along Clementi Avenue 4. After reaching its end near Sungei Ulu Pandan, the bus u-turns and makes it straight back to the Interchange, serving a grand total of 3 bus stops and travelling just 1.7 km.
After barely 15 minutes of travel time on Feeder 284, I took loops of the other two Clementi Town Feeders, 282 and 285.
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| Clementi West Street 2 (282) |
Feeder 282 mainly serves Clementi West Estate, situated along West Coast Road, looping at Clementi West Street 2.
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| West Coast Road, served by both 282 and 285. |
Feeder 285 travels the other direction on West Coast Road, looping at Pandan Loop, an industrial estate, despite not being classified as an Industrial Service.
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| Pandan Industrial Estate (285) |
Old but gold - 107, 165
Finishing the Clementi Feeders, I arrived back at Clementi Interchange wanting to venture outwards. Luckily, a bus deployed on Trunk Service 165 arrived. The bus was an older one, a Volvo B10M Mark IV.
These buses were the dominant types on the Singapore roads no more than a decade ago. Now only a fraction remain, all to be retired by Christmas, deployed mainly on routes 151 and 175. Some of them also service routes out of Clementi, such as 165.
The bus ran through Holland Road, Upper Thomson and Ang Mo Kio on its way from Clementi to Hougang Central. By this point, it also started to rain.
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| Riding out of Clementi Interchange (165) |
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| Upper Thomson Road (165) |
Hougang Central Bus Interchange, as it turns out, is also a hotspot for these older, non-wheelchair-accessible buses. There were also similar Volvo B10M buses on routes 112 as well as the aforementioned 151.
Besides these single-deck buses, there are also a few older double-decker buses. Most of them are low-floor and are hence have step-free entry, but are not wheelchair-accessible due to a lack of a ramp. Much like the Volvo B10BLE from earlier.
To get back to the city, I took Trunk Service 107, aboard a Dennis Trident, one of the older double-deckers. The bus travelled to the City Centre via Upper Serangoon Road and through Kallang Bahru and Beach Road, terminating at Shenton Way Bus Terminal.
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| Departing Hougang Central (107) |
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| Approaching Beach Road (107) |
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| In the CBD, near Lau Pa Sat (107) |
Using the 106, I made the short trip to Marina Centre to catch another bus home. I recalled how different the buses were a decade ago when the public buses lacked standing areas and actually had steps, they even have distinct sounds. Though the towns they drive through didn't change much, the buses themselves did.
Nowadays, almost all buses are wheelchair-accessible and are step-free. With any type of progress and growth, however, some things have to be left behind. Including the comfortable bouncy seats of the old buses and the experiences they carry.
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