5 - Bedok to Scotts Road

This morning I decided to go to Orchard. So from the bus stop near my house, I hopped onto a 5 bus. The 5 is a very useful service. Going in one direction, I can go to Simei. And in the other, I can go to Toa Payoh (where I can change to a bus going to Maju Camp, but that is depressing and so I usually take it coming home only), Novena and Orchard. It is a semi-express service, taking the highway from Eunos in the suburbs to Thomson Road in the city. This is why I take it a lot. Just last month, my ez-link registered 5 consecutive trips on the 5. But the frequency of arrivals is so excruiatingly annoying. Sometimes it can just be a few minutes. Usually, it is 15 or more. This is irritating especially on Friday evenings when I desperately want to get home. One time, while waiting for the 5 at Simei, I had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to arrive. Then when it came, it was packed to the brim. I ended up literally squished next to the door at the front of the bus because there was no more standing space in the entire vehicle. Luckily I only had to endure a 10 minute trip before I could escape the crowded confines. Recently they have added double-deck buses on this route. Unfortunately, I have not sat on one of those yet.  

 This morning, it took only 5 minutes for the bus to come. However, I think that was because it was 11:55 am, a non-peak hour. The bus was one of those new, disabled-friendly (see pic on top), less-pollution environment-friendly ones with electronic signboards on the front. I have never seen someone in a wheelchair take one of these new buses yet. I totally agree that we should have more of these buses (even though they have less seating) for those wheelchair-bound people to use. But how frequently do they take buses? Maybe SBS should give out more information/assistance to these people to encourage them to take buses more frequently.

In the end, I ended up standing the whole journey. The 5 does get into the city quite fast, but after a while, I started getting impatient. My legs were starting to ache. I was starting to think, that maybe, it would have been better in this case for me to get onto a normal bus with more seats. After all, if I wanted to stand a lot, I would have taken the MRT.

Arrival at bus stop ~ 11:50 am

Arrival of bus ~ 11:55 am

Disembarkation time ~ 12:43 pm

Total journey time ~ 48 mins

Fare ~ $1.43