History of Bus Routes Ep 11: CC/CCX

As part of campus zoning measures to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, ISB routes were organised by zones. The CC/CCX service, introduced on 20 July 2020, served Zone C, which includes FASS, SoC, BIZ, innovation 4.0 and the buildings along Prince George’s Park. Only students whose zone is Zone C were allowed to board CC/CCX buses.

CC

OCA uploaded the following summary graphic for route CC on their website.

CC connected the hubs of PGP, Kent Ridge MRT and UTown to destinations in Zone C, including TCOMS, BIZ, NUSS, COM2, LT13/Ventus, YIH and CLB.

University Health Centre was accessed via YIH/Opp YIH for students in Zone C.

The doubled letters CC are used to avoid confusion with the previous C service. Tentatively, the CC services have been coloured blue.

Students needed to pay attention to destination signage at COM2, as the same stop is used by CC buses in both directions (towards UTown and towards PGP/ Opp KR MRT). The convention used was as follows:

For the first leg, to UTown, the EDS showed “Opp KR MRT > COM2 > FASS > UTown” with a longer first line.

For the second leg, to Opp KR MRT, the EDS showed “UTown > FASS > COM2 > Opp KR MRT” with a longer second line.

Unlike the other zoned routes, this bus service did not serve the Kent Ridge MRT bus stop (18331) itself. Instead. the first and last stop was designated at Opposite Kent Ridge MRT (18339). Zone C students heading into campus would wait for the bus here, which prevents them from mixing with inbound Zone A and B students.

Buses starting their trips would display the CC EDS, while buses that are ending their trips would display “Off Service” on their EDS as an indication to students that the bus is going off service after dropping off students at the stop. Buses did not run continuously past Opp KR MRT.

The route proved rather popular with Business and Computing students who stayed off campus, who had a direct and fast connection from Kent Ridge MRT station to their faculties. However, the arrangement was somewhat unpopular with drivers due to the significant dead mileage from PGP to Opp KR MRT (at the beginning of the trip) and from Opp KR MRT back to PGP (at the end of the trip).

Some drivers, if their bus was empty at Opp TCOMS, would immediately park their bus at PGP if the terminal had no waiting passengers, to avoid needlessly heading out to Opp KR MRT to drop nobody off. At other times, drivers were spotted ending trips by dropping off their passengers at KR MRT (not Opp) and then heading over to the Opp NUH public bus stop (18239) to layover before starting the next trip directly at Opp KR MRT. This practice was discouraged but drivers resorted to it out of necessity in some cases, as there would not be enough time to head to PGP and back out.

CCX (Saturday Variant)

A route variant of CC, called CCX, operated on term time Saturdays alongside the regular C. This route shuttled back and forth between Opp Kent Ridge MRT and UTown with no intermediate stops.

This service was conceptualised during the early phase of the Zoning regulations, implying that students were originally not meant to be able to board buses corresponding to their residential zone. CCX catered to Zone C residents staying in UTown who needed to enter or leave campus, enabling them to reach Kent Ridge MRT without passing through the whole Zone C.

On 21 July 2020 (the first weekday of the zoned routes), the NUSafe FAQ confirmed that students were allowed to board buses corresponding to their residential zone as well. As such, Zone C students staying in UTown could board AA1 towards Kent Ridge MRT or AA2 coming back, rendering CCX somewhat irrelevant. Indeed, low passenger numbers were observed during the semester due to the 30-minute frequency.

Despite what the route diagram implied, CCX trips started and ended at UTown. Between trips, the buses did their lay over at the Stephen Riady Centre unused bus stop.

This start and end at UTown is reflected more accurately in the route map, as well as the NUS NextBus app.

In practice, bus drivers often did not encounter any passengers boarding their CCX at Opp KR MRT. Thus, if there were no passengers on the return trip, drivers often used Dover Road instead of AYE and entered UTown from the northern entrance at RC4, heading straight to the layover point at SRC instead of passing by the Town Plaza bus stop.

However, if there were passengers on board, drivers would have to use the AYE as indicated in the route diagram. After dropping off passengers at UTown, the drivers would have to either drive one round around the perimeter of UTown to reach SRC, or U-turn at the roundabout, go under the underpass, and then do a 3-point turn at SRC.

Deployments

Buses permanently deployed to CC during AY20/21 Semester 1 included:

• PC3738E
• PC3853E
• PC3867R
• PC3925G
• PC3931M
• PC3957P
• PC3983M
• PC4032B

Buses permanently deployed to CCX during AY20/21 Semester 1 included:

• PC3876P
• PC3983M
• PC3995D
• PC4071M

Gallery

All Episodes

• History of Bus Routes Ep 1: D1/D2
• History of Bus Routes Ep 2: B1/B2
• History of Bus Routes Ep 3: C
• History of Bus Routes Ep 4: A1/A2
• History of Bus Routes Ep 5: BTC1/BTC2
• History of Bus Routes Ep 6: A1E/A2E
• History of Bus Routes Ep 7: HMK1
• History of Bus Routes Ep 8: AV1
• History of Bus Routes Ep 9: AA1/AA2
• History of Bus Routes Ep 10: BB
• History of Bus Routes Ep 11: CC/CCX
• History of Bus Routes Ep 12: DD1/DD2
• History of Bus Routes Ep 13: NUS Direct Lunch Shuttle
• History of Bus Routes Ep 14: E
• History of Bus Routes Ep 15: K
• History of Bus Routes Ep 16: L