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SBS pulls brakes on bus timings

Many communters in Singapore has been relying on mobile applications from the Android, Apple App Store and Blackberry to give them accurate bus timings. SBS Transit's Iris (Intelligent Route Information System) now have decided to put the brakes on these third party apps which are able to pull data from its website.

How did SBS put the brakes?

SBS has use a captcha system to ensure that third party system cannot access the website. There is no problem for human like us as we just need to key in the validation code and submit.Robots from third party apps accessing the system will not be able to recognize the code and enter it to access the data.

Bus Timing Data
The IRIS is built to benefit the commuters. It is a system for us to access the bus timing so that we can plan our journey. If you are an iPhone users, you can still access the bus timing on SBS IRIS, the official app on the Apple App Store.

You can also access the IRIS on your Smart Phone by clicking below
http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/iris3/nextbus.aspx 

The real question is this satellite system fund by SBS or by LTA? If it is SBS, then they have every right to block other third party apps. But if it is by the government, then SBS is doing the wrong thing and LTA is not doing anything to stop it.

North South SMRT Line Problem

Problems are arising at peak hours for the North South Line. This is particularly for commuters travelling northwards to Yishun, Sembawang and Woodlands. It is no longer esssential for extra trains to stop and start at Yishun. The major commuters are now not from Yishun but residents from Sembawang and Woodlands.

It is time for SMRT to do some problem solving techniques on solving the peak hour train problems. We would like to invite Minister Lim and the top management of SMRT to take a train at 6 to 7PM on weekdays at Ang Mo Kio Station and alight at Admiralty MRT Station. I can understand that these group of people will not understand the problem ordinary Singapore Residents is facing as their means of transport is CARs. We really need to get the ACTs together to solve this Transport Problems for the benefit of Singapore.