SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has worked with SMRT to run six additional half-way trips for bus service 190, starting last Friday (Oct 18), to ease its Friday night congestion.

There are currently 24 half-way scheduled starting trips from the YMCA bus stop.

It is also studying, with SMRT, the feasibility to add more trips on weekday evenings from 9.30pm to 10.30pm when shops along Orchard road close and there is higher ridership demand.

The LTA has asked SMRT to deploy more staff to affected bus stops to help manage boarding, and empty buses will also be deployed midway from the Somerset Station bus stop along Orchard Road to help ensure commuters can board the bus on Friday nights.

The announcement comes after commuters lamented about the crowding situation of Bus Service 190 on Oct 4. A frustrated commuter posted a video on YouTube, claiming she could not board the service 13 times that night. The video has since gone viral and has been viewed more than 37,000 times.

The LTA said: “We understand the frustrations from commuters with the crowding situation on Bus Service 190 on Oct 4. Many commuters had difficulty boarding the bus, and in some cases long wait for the bus on that night.”

The LTA said investigations showed that a bus breakdown and traffic congestion along the PIE and Choa Chu Kang Way resulted in SMRT Buses operating only 33 trips instead of the usual scheduled 39 trips between 9pm and midnight.

“This led to a longer waiting time of up to 14 minutes and a build-up of commuters on buses that night,” said the LTA.

The LTA said SMRT “should have responded better to the delays caused by the bus breakdown and traffic congestion, and take measures to maintain service levels on service 190, which typically has high demand in the city area during the evenings”.

Under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme, a new trunk bus service from Bukit Panjang to Orchard Road will launch next month. This will provide commuters an alternative travel option and ease crowding on Service 190, said the LTA.