Toa Payoh Bus Plan

Introduction:
The Toa Payoh Bus Plan of 1983 was a major change to bus routes serving the Toa Payoh New Town from a point-to-point network of bus services to a hub-and-spoke network operating out of Toa Payoh Town Centre. Instead of serving lengthy routes within the estate, Trunk routes be rerouted and their missing sectors replaced by a new series of Feeder bus services.

Initiated on 26th December 1983, the bus plan coincided with the opening of the then-newly opened Toa Payoh Bus Interchange, located at the junction of Lorong 2 and Lorong 6 Toa Payoh. The current air-conditioned Integrated Transport Hub (ITH) sits on the former location of the bus interchange.

The Changes:
From 26th December 1983, bus operations in Toa Payoh will be re-routed from a point-to-point network of bus services to a hub-and-spoke network. Existing trunk services would no longer make long rounds around the Toa Payoh estate. Instead, they would take the shortest route from the new bus Interchange at Toa Payoh Town Centre, following a series of simple route patterns.

To replace lost connections, six new Feeder services were introduced, plying the shortest route to and from the Bus Interchange. These services were: Existing Feeder services 230 was withdrawn on the same day. Service 231 and 232 operated in two directions, differentiated by Green and White plates.
 * Service 231: Toa Payoh Int – Toa Payoh Lorong 1 & 4 (Loop)
 * Service 232: Toa Payoh Int – Toa Payoh Lorong 2 & 6 (Loop)
 * Service 235: Toa Payoh Int – Toa Payoh Lorong 5 (Loop)
 * Service 237: Toa Payoh Int – Toa Payoh Lorong 7 (Loop)
 * Service 238: Toa Payoh Int – Toa Payoh Lorong 8 (Loop)
 * Service 239: Toa Payoh Int – Kim Keat Avenue (Loop)

In addition, the new Toa Payoh Bus Interchange was designed to offer a pleasant environment for bus passengers to transfer and wait for their buses. Outside of Toa Payoh, seven out of twenty-two bus services operating from the Interchange received amendments.

Reasons for the change:
Main reasons for the big change in bus routes for Toa Payoh was highlighted by SBS.

The average total length of a Toa Payoh bus services was 46 km at the time, and 10 km of that length was spent making rounds around Toa Payoh to provide a ‘doorstep’ service to a large number of residents. Daily, a total of 379 SBS buses are deployed on the roads to operate all Toa Payoh services, and during the peak hours, 87 of these buses were circulating around Toa Payoh estate. That accounts to an average of 4 buses per bus service, either returning to or leaving the Town.

As such, the resources involved in providing a ‘doorstep’ service is extremely high, and furthermore, SBS surveys reveal that most residents find existing journeys lengthy, time-consuming and would prefer to walk. This would be understandable for a relatively small estate like Toa Payoh: only 1.5 km from North to South, and 2.5 km from East to West. At the time, only one out of five passengers live more than 400 metres away from a trunk route or interchange.

With the new feeder bus services, residents would be able to get around Toa Payoh more quickly and conveniently, and for a much lower fare. With the resources saved, they could be better utilized to step up frequencies on existing bus routes, and continue to keep costs low for the benefit of commuters.

Route changes within Toa Payoh:
Graphic IllustrationThree simple route patterns would be adopted: Service 139, 140, 141, 143, 145 and 151 will leave via the Toa Payoh South Flyover to Jln Toa Payoh Service 146, 148 and 149 will leave via Lorong 6 before entering Jln Toa Payoh via Kim Keat Ave Services 73, 137, 150, 152, 155, 157, 158 and 159
 * 1) South bound services will leave the Town directly.
 * 1) North bound services will leave the Town via Lorong 4.
 * 1) Run through services 95 and 153 will ply Lorong 2, Toa Payoh Central and Lorong 4 between Jln Toa Payoh and Braddell Rd

Route changes outside of Toa Payoh:
Changes will only be made to 7 out of the 22 existing bus services serving Toa Payoh. No changes will be made to Services 73, 95, 137, 139, 143, 145, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 155, 157 and 159 outside of Toa Payoh estate.
 * Service 135 withdrawn from Toa Payoh: Amended to Marine Parade – MacPherson Estate
 * Service 140 to ply express to Orchard Rd
 * Service 141 to ply express to Shenton Way
 * Service 146 merged with Service 176
 * Service 147 withdrawn from Toa Payoh: Amended to C’wealth Ave – Potong Pasir
 * Services 153 and 156 merged to form a new Service 153

New Feeder Services:
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Summary of Post-Amendment Toa Payoh bus routes

 * 73: Toa Payoh – Yio Chu Kang – Old Upper Thomson Road (Loop)
 * 95: Clementi – Toa Payoh – Airport Road
 * 137: Toa Payoh – Upper Thomson Road – Mandai Lake Road (Loop)
 * 139: Toa Payoh – Bencoolen Street – Bukit Merah
 * 140: Toa Payoh – Scotts Road – Orchard Road (Loop)
 * 141: Toa Payoh – Anson Road – Robinson Road (Loop)
 * 143: Toa Payoh – Clemenceau Avenue – Penjuru Road
 * 145: Toa Payoh – North Bridge Road – Kent Ridge
 * 146: Toa Payoh – Shenton Way – Clementi
 * 148: Toa Payoh – River Valley Rd – Commonwealth Avenue
 * 149: Toa Payoh – Tanjong Katong Road – Changi Airport PTB (Loop)
 * 150: Toa Payoh – Middle Road – Crawford Street (Loop)
 * 151: Toa Payoh – Kim Seng Road – Neil Road
 * 152: Toa Payoh – Paya Lebar Road – Bedok
 * 153: Bukit Merah – Toa Payoh – Upper Serangoon Road End
 * 155: Toa Payoh – MacPherson Estate – Somapah
 * 157: Toa Payoh – Bukit Timah Road – Jurong Port Road
 * 158: Toa Payoh – Tanjong Katong Road – Chai Chee
 * 159: Toa Payoh – Braddell Road – Ang Mo Kio