Students get a glimpse of triple-sharing hall rooms - Nanyang ...

MARCH 10, 2008The nanyang chronicle news 05Premium bus service to easestudents’ transportation troublesStudents who maketransits at Jurong East ontheir way to school havea new alternativeNata s h a An n Za c h a r i a hSTUDENTS who brave the perils ofpublic transport to make the dailycommute to NTU now have anothertransportation option. Premiumbus service, 582, was launched lastMonday in an initiative by TongTar Transportation to ease travelwoes of students.Mr Philip Peh, general managerof Tong Tar Transportation, saidthat the new service was aimedat students travelling from thenorthern and eastern parts ofSingapore.He said that by taking thepremium bus, students would savetime as they would not need tomake many transits at the JurongEast and Boon Lay interchange.He added that the bus would caterto NTU staff and members of thepublic as well.Buses start from Jurong East at7.45 am. until 10am., with serviceresuming in the afternoon fromCanteen A at 3pm. until 5.30 pm.This one-way service, to and fromJurong East Interchange to NTU, isonly available on weekdays.Single-trip journeys will becharged at $1.80 for the first twoto three months of trial, afterwhich the fare will be increasedto $2.30.The route has six stops alongthe way, three of which are withinNTU. They are: the bus stop atCanteen A, the School of BiologicalScience and at the InnovationCentre.Mr Peh was unsure of howreceptive students would betowards this different service. Thecompany would be monitoring theusage of the service before makingany changes.The transport company saidthat buses were not yet operatingat full capacity. The last bus of theroute last Thursday saw only onepassenger on-board.But Mr Peh said the newservice would provide studentswith something that SBS’s 179 and199 cannot.“It provides a faster servicethrough a shorter route and sinceno standing is allowed, everyoneis assured a seat.” he said.But getting a seat on the busmight not be much of a concernfor students.Yasmin Ahamad, 22, a secondyearPsychology student said: “Idon’t mind standing as long as Iget to the destination.”Also, the price of a single-tripANOTHER WAY TO TRAVEL: Premium bus 582 now ferries passengers from Jurong East to NTU, but there seems to be few takers.PHOTO | AHMAD ISKANDARjourney might put off students.“Most of us are on concessionpasses, so it doesn’t make sense topay extra,” added Yasmin.Mr Peh said that the fare was“stipulated by LTA” but noted thatthe company would monitor theresponse and review the situationaccordingly. He added that if it wasbad, they would pull out.T h e St ude nt s’ S e r v ic e sExecutive, Lim Si Wei, said thatthe Students’ Union is workingwith Tong Tar to seek a reductionin bus fares to make it a viableoption for more students.First-year Art, Design andMedia student, Tan Hong Jin, 23,hopes that this new service willcatch on with other students.“It is best if a lot of people takethis bus, so that I’ll have more of179 to myself!” he said.snappedon campusBuilding a boat on concrete ideasWa n g Ch e n g WeePHOTO | COURTESY OF WILLIAM KANGDRASURELY an unusual sight for any student who haswaited for a bus during the peak hours – more thanhalf a dozen 179 buses clog up the road leading toa bus stop across from Canteen A.If only such sights were more frequent whenstudents were in a hurry to get to class early in themorning.Seen anything quirky or odd on campus? Take aphoto and send it to us at chronicle@ntu.edu.sgTHE FIRST elimination round ofthe Singapore National ConcreteCanoe Competition (SNCCC) tookplace on March 1st, with a teamfrom NUS winning the OralPresentation round.Organised by the NTU Civiland Environmental EngineeringClub, this is the first competitionof its kind in Singapore, althoughit has been held in the United Statessince the 1970s.A s i t s n a m e s u g ge s t s ,participants must build afunctioning canoe using concretebasedmaterials. Teams must gothrough an elimination round, anoral presentation round, a swamptest where they will test theircanoes, and the final canoe racethis May or June.The aim of the competition isto promote civil engineering andadvanced technologies through theuse of concrete.The latest oral presentationround saw ten teams from NUS,NTU and Singapore Polytechniccompeting for the title of Best OralPresentation. Teams were gradedon the way they proposed theirplans and their handling of theQuestion and Answer session.SNCCC Chairperson Poo SueWILL IT SINK OR SWIM?: Concrete canoe competitions are common in the UnitedStates, where varsities have been holding them since the seventies. PHOTO | COURTESYXin, 22, believed there were severalreasons for Team NUS1’s win.“They were technicallycompetent in the way theypresented their design,” she said.“They showed extensive knowledgein the Q and A segment. They alsomade a prototype – a scaled downmodel of the real canoe – whichimpressed the judges.”For Team NUS1, the win tookthem by surprise.“I think the Q and A sessionhelped as we answered the questionsquite well,” said Tan Chen Sin, 21,a second-year student at the NUSFaculty of Civil Engineering.For students who missed outon this year’s competition, Poo hassome good news for you.“The next Concrete CanoeCompetition might be held nextyear. But most probably, it is goingto be held biannually.”