Welcome aboard Jom Naik Bas! (or Let’s Take The Bus!) A blog for all the reviews, the opinions and my passion for buses.

For a start, I will repost all of my previous entries on reviews and articles on public buses in Singapore, as well as the cross-border express buses of Malaysia. These reviews will now be known as “Jom Naik!”. The BusBlogFeature will also be a permanent feature of this blog.

Some of the BusBlogFeature entries posted are:

• Volvo B9TL
• Volvo Olympian
• Volvo B10M MkII
• Scania K230UB
• Malaysian Double-Deckers Special
• Volvo B10TL Super Olympian
• Scania N113CRB

The “Jom Naik!” reviews covers on express buses between Singapore and Malaysia for now, but will also feature interstate services within Malaysia. They are:

• Mara Liner Express Super VIP – Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur
• Transtar Express First Class – Kuala Lumpur to Singapore
• Suasana Edaran Express TopClass – Singapore to Kuala Lumpur
• Transtar Express First Class Solitaire – Genting Highlands to Singapore
• Transtar Express Premium – Singapore to Kuala Lumpur
• Transnasional Skyview – Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur
• Aeroline First Class Shuttle – Kuala Lumpur to Singapore
• Alisan Express – Singapore to Kuala Lumpur
• WTS Travel CEO Platinum Deluxe Cruiser – Genting Highlands to Singapore
• Grassland Express Royal VIP – Kuala Lumpur to Singapore **NEW**
• Orange Coach – Singapore to Kuala Lumpur **Coming Soon**
• Platinum Star Coach – Kuala Lumpur to Penang **Coming Soon**

“Jom Naik Bas To Malaysia!” A two-part series on some tips and guidance on choosing the preferred express bus service.

• Jom Naik Bas To Malaysia / Part 1 –  How to choose your ideal bus to your holiday destination? **NEW**
• Jom Naik Bas To Malaysia / Part 2 – Where to board the buses in Singapore? **NEW**

A brand new series will also be featured on Jom Naik Bas!, thanks to a collaboration with my Malaysian enthusiast friend Nazmie Dalhar. His informative posts on his trips across the Peninsular Malaysia will be translated to English and reposted on “Jom Naik Bas!”. These series will be known as “Jom Makan Angin!”. Should permission be given, I will also do a repost of the reviews done by others on these series as well. The first Jom Makan Angin! review will be posted in early July.

• Jom Makan Angin to the East Coast (Part 1)

I will also feature a brand new series on other bus journeys, which I will name “Kembara Jom Naik Bas!”, or “Jom Naik Bas Journeys” in English. This series will not just be a review per se, but will also highlight some of the services that a bus company operates and some details on the operations. Bus hunting trips that I’ve done will also be a part of this series.

• Impromptu Bus Hunting in Kuala Lumpur 2008 – Part 1
• Impromptu Bus Hunting in Kuala Lumpur 2008 – Part 2
• Suasana Edaran Express TopClass – Kuala Lumpur to Seremban Shuttle
• Transnasional Express – Seremban to Melaka Shuttle
• RapidKL Iveco Turbo City 480 – Service T226 Taman Melewar to Taman Melati LRT Station
• KLIA Transit to LCCT Shuttle **NEW**

The Jom Naik! Specials will cover articles on my other passion – railways and aviation.

• Malaysia AirAsia – Singapore to Kuala Lumpur **NEW**
• Indonesia AirAsia – Singapore to Bandung **Coming Soon**

A point to note that I am in no way affiliated or linked in any ways whatsoever with any of the bus and travel companies mentioned in this blog. All photographs in this blog are copyrights of Jom Naik Bas and the rightful owners. Prior permission must be sought before any photographs are used.

I hope you enjoy reading my reviews on what I love most. And please do leave your comments as well.

Thank you for reading!

Ishak

Brickston Transport is on its way to become the first transportation firm in Southeast Asia to operate a fleet of diesel-electric hybrid buses. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Monday between the firm and ST Kinetics. It marks the intention of Brickston Transport to operate a trial fleet of hybrid buses, a first for Southeast Asia.

Xiamen King Long has also signed an agreement with ST Kinetics, whose hyPower hybrid technology has been integrated to a King Long low-floor citybus.

Southeast Asia's first diesel-electric bus - Channel NewsAsia

Quoted from ST Kinetics Press Release:

At the launch, ST Kinetics inked a strategic agreement with Xiamen King Long whereby ST Kinetics’ hyPower hybrid electric technology would be integrated into King Long’s low-floor city buses.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was also signed amongst ST Kinetics, King Long Singapore and Brickston Transport Service, regarding the local transport operator’s intent to trial a fleet of hybrid diesel-electric buses.

…

The first ever diesel-hybrid electric city bus in Singapore has achieved fuel savings of up to 30% through more than 10,000 km of road trials …

The Straits Times today reported that at two local transport operators are in talks with ST Kinetics to operate the country’s first diesel-electric hybrid buses. The two companies are SMRT Corp, Singapore’s second largest public transport operator, and Brickston Transport, which focuses mainly on buses ferrying workers.

This news follows the introduction of the country’s first petrol-electric hybrid taxis. SBS Transit on the other hand is engaged in discussions with NUS, to introduce their own version of a fuel-cell bus, due to enter service before the Youth Olympic Games in July 2010.

Please click on the following link for the article -> Hybrid buses ready for trials in Singapore

Commuters in the Klang Valley have a reason to cheer with the announcement of a major bus network enhancement to take effect Monday, 16th November 2009.

Klang Valley’s largest public transport operator, RapidKL, have announced that as many as 45 services will be enhanced under this exercise. Of the 45 services, 32 will be extended to the City Centre, 11 will be amended and the introduction of two brand new services.

The service enhancements will translate to time and money savings for commuters, who currently has to change from Tempatan to Utama and lastly to Bandar services to get to the City Centre. The current combined operating fleet of 184 buses for the 45 affected services will be increased to 341 buses when the enhancements take effect. The additional number of buses means better services, higher bus frequencies, shorter waiting period and more value for their money.

At the same time, RapidKL will also withdraw 9 services which duplicates the affected services. A total of 6 Bandar services will be withdrawn in the exercise.

Please click on the following link for a list of affected services -> 45 RapidKL bus routes to go straight into City Centre

Yet another history made this year for Singapore’s land transportation sector. Just hours after receiving news that a Citaro rigid has been sighted in Singapore, Jom Naik Bas! was alerted to an official press release on Daimler.com, confirming speculations that indeed the sighted Citaro at Cycle & Carriage HQ is the first of 66 Citaros ordered by SMRT Buses.

Quoted on Daimler.com

BlueTec in Asia

Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) is the first company in Southeast Asia to put Mercedes-Benz urban buses with BlueTec 5 into operation in short-distance public transport. This means that the BlueTec diesel technology so successfully introduced by Daimler in Europe now also has a presence in Asia. And with an order for 66 Mercedes-Benz Citaro BlueTec urban buses that meet the stringent Euro 5 exhaust standard, the SMRT Corporation in Singapore is setting new benchmarks in Southeast Asia.

This is the first such order for an integral product from Mercedes-Benz, both in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Jom Naik Bas! understands that the first unit will undergo further modifications to suit the customer’s specifications. Jom Naik Bas! will bring you all the updates on this interesting order, as and when it is available.

In the meantime, read up more on the second generation of the highly-successful Citaro citybus series. Click here for the article.

SINGAPORE: Sixteen coach operators and the Express Bus Agencies Association have been fined a total of S$1.69 million for fixing the price of coach tickets.

The Competition Commission of Singapore said this has been going on for one-way coach tickets between Singapore and destinations in Malaysia from 2006 to 2008.

The Express Bus Agencies Association, which has about 25 members, said some 300,000 travellers used their coaches for trips last year between Singapore and Malaysia.

The commission said the association and 16 coach operators imposed minimum selling prices first fixed at S$25 for one-way coach tickets to Kuala Lumpur when some of the association’s members were then selling their tickets at S$20 or S$23.

The prices were revised in March 2006 and ranged between S$22 and S$39.

Besides setting minimum selling prices, the Express Bus Agencies Association and the 16 coach operators also went about increasing the price of tickets by implementing fuel and insurance charges.

This was done in 2005 and was reviewed in 2007 and 2008. The commission estimates that the coach operators pocketed nearly S$3.65 million through these fuel and insurance charges.

Teo Eng Cheong, chief executive, Competition Commission of Singapore, said: “The members had regular meetings and this topic of minimum selling price, and fuel and insurance charge will be discussed. They also have a rebate system to track and monitor the sales of these coupons and to make sure that members sell sufficient number of coupons.

“We also have evidence to show that when one company was selling its ticket price below the minimum selling price, another company complained at the meetings.

“We do not object to companies increasing their price because of fuel cost increases. What we object to is companies colluded and fixed the prices and this was done as a first instance.

“We would like to encourage (those) facing with price increases to consider ways to improve their productivity or innovate their products and services instead of getting together to fix prices – that is something we don’t want to encourage”

The Express Bus Agencies Association argued that it was not aware of the Competition Act till the commission started investigating in June last year.

Sebastian Yap, Express Bus Agencies Association, said: “We learned that the law exists that we were not aware. Of course, we will not do this again. If we could have known this earlier, it would have been much better for all of us.”

 

The association added that it has not been profiteering, but covering increases in fuel costs. The association and its members have two months to pay up their fines or file an appeal. – CNA/vm

Source – ChannelNewsAsia.com

Let’s hope none of these will ever repeat.