Better public transport is answer to congestion problem

THE public bus service in Brunei Darussalam has long been derided for a number of reasons but with Brunei looking at its various options on how to handle road congestion it serves to be the most viable solution to the problem that the sultanate experiences during the pay day rush. However, is the bus service in Brunei Darussalam really that bad?

Keeran Janin does not think it to be the case, and the young entrepreneur feels that the buses in Brunei Darussalam have their own attributes which builds a case for others to use and try the service. "Surprisingly they are actually quite clean," he says, "when you compare them to other countries the buses there usually seem to be clean, but on the inside you come across all sorts of things." Speaking of his experiences, he also points out that here in Brunei, while they are not supposed to, the buses actually stop where ever you want them to along the route.

He also feels an area which can be improved to ease congestion is through establishing a bus depot or a central station for commuters and schoolchildren. "By doing that you can take the cars that line up along the roads at schools waiting for kids out of the equation," he said, adding that children would not run the risks of crossing the road which sometimes results in accidents.

If such a place were to be built, it would mean ample parking for parents to pick up schoolchildren, or those who do not want to contend with the hassle of finding or paying for parking in the business districts.

Bus services in Brunei consist of the Central Line, Circle Line, Eastern Line, Southern Line, Western Line and Northern Line, among others. During the weekends the bus service is at its busiest, with many foreign workers taking advantage of the cheap fares to head to Bandar Seri Begawan. But Bruneians love their cars and continue shunning the public transport. Brunei has been ranked highest in the region in terms of number of cars per 1,000 public transportation.

Whilst there are obvious benefits of having the service, on the other side of the same coin are other aspects of the bus service which need to be addressed to facilitate more and more people to make the jump on board.

The Brunei Times quizzed a foreign worker in Brunei, who regularly uses the bus service, on whether she has ever tried finding out what time will the bus arrive at her neighbourhood. "No, I don't, but they always come," she said.

Marie like other foreigners can be seen over the weekend either standing casually in the shade waiting for the imminent arrival of the purple buses or walking along the route to make a head start towards the destination they are going to. Despite the timely appearances, there is no way of knowing whether a bus will be arriving at a particular stop any time soon, and this puts people off.

"If I was to seriously consider taking a bus to work, they would need to be clean and efficient," said Azman, who feels that commuting on the bus is undesirable for office workers who need to look presentable and on time.

Whilst looking at the previous state of public transportation before the arrival of the purple buses, the current landscape of the bus service is not so bad. Though reliable, a level of professionalism must be injected into the service for it to be taken more seriously as an alternative means of day to day transport. For the average Bruneian the fact they always come simply is not enough. The Brunei Times