Longest bus ride taken (with photos)
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:22 pm
I think only few can beat my record for the longest bus ride on a public bus in Singapore. On 4 October 2012, due to an oil spill in TPE (towards PIE) after the SLE exit, the whole expressway was closed to facilitate clean-up and repaving of the lanes. I was stuck in a service 168 (B9TL SBS3008K, the one which got into an accident much later and repaired, see https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/a ... -along-sle). In front of me, I could see a long line of red-roofed double-decker buses (with some single-deckers bendys and rigids in between). Looking behind, I saw the same thing. Basically, all the 161, 168, and 858 buses were stranded, while civilian vehicles found their way to switch lanes to enter CTE instead.
The jam started (or rather, my bus arrived at the jam) at around 1630. It was a weekday after school. The bus was relatively crowded, but we still managed to find seats at the rear (I was with a few schoolmates). The jam made us so bored that we started to talk to strangers (one friend befriended another stranger for that night), and saying hypothetical things, like what happens if someone wanted to visit the washroom while in the jam. One of the schoolmates even made an offensive gesture to a double-decker 161 when it overtook our bus in the jam (there were small movements here and there throughout the duration of the jam).
The traffic only started to move when the sky was pitch-dark. I remember the bus going at full speed (60 kmh) after clearing the jam, 3 hours later. In the end, what would be a 1 hour journey took about 4 hours to complete. Below are the photos taken with my Omnia W. Images are cropped/resized before uploading.
As seen, the buses are queuing up, waiting for the road to open again. Apparently they are also closing the road that night, to build the new stretch of road (https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.a ... 79e15e925f). Taken at 1635.
Taken at 1645.
Also taken at 1645. This situation continued until 1900+.
Taken at 1714. Not a sight you see every day.
Finally out of the jam. The time is 1925, at Tampines.
The jam started (or rather, my bus arrived at the jam) at around 1630. It was a weekday after school. The bus was relatively crowded, but we still managed to find seats at the rear (I was with a few schoolmates). The jam made us so bored that we started to talk to strangers (one friend befriended another stranger for that night), and saying hypothetical things, like what happens if someone wanted to visit the washroom while in the jam. One of the schoolmates even made an offensive gesture to a double-decker 161 when it overtook our bus in the jam (there were small movements here and there throughout the duration of the jam).
The traffic only started to move when the sky was pitch-dark. I remember the bus going at full speed (60 kmh) after clearing the jam, 3 hours later. In the end, what would be a 1 hour journey took about 4 hours to complete. Below are the photos taken with my Omnia W. Images are cropped/resized before uploading.
As seen, the buses are queuing up, waiting for the road to open again. Apparently they are also closing the road that night, to build the new stretch of road (https://www.lta.gov.sg/apps/news/page.a ... 79e15e925f). Taken at 1635.
Taken at 1645.
Also taken at 1645. This situation continued until 1900+.
Taken at 1714. Not a sight you see every day.
Finally out of the jam. The time is 1925, at Tampines.
