solutions? how about running more trains at peak intervals for example. Run it at 2-3 mins intervals. I am sure a lot of forummers will agree with that. Problem is that SMRT wants to maximize their profits, so they run it every 5-6 mins...
it's a peak hour problem due to geo-demographics. decreasing intervals can alleviate but not solve the problem long term. moreover, the system has an interval lower limit, due to safety, speed, track capacity (space), number of tracks, number of cars per train, number of trains per track, end station holding time, depot capacity, etc.
the root cause of the problem is the large and rapid increase in sg's population, without the necessary timely increase in the system capacity and number of tracks.
traffic 101. star and spoke design. when there is a concentration of traffic in the downtown area due to the concentration of transfer points in the system design, i.e. all routes converging at a few transfer points, there will be congestion and capacity issues at and towards these transfer points.
traffic 102. mesh design. to solve the problem on a long term basis, they need more ring routes in the perimeter and middle of the island in order to distribute end-point to end-point traffic without this traffic contributing to the downtown congestion. this means creating more transfer points in the ring routes outside of the city center. a mesh approach allows passengers to find alternate routes when they perceive their direct or primary routes are congested. it may mean more transfer points in getting to destination, but it's better than getting stuck on the only spoke getting into the city center for transfers.
traffic 103. for major routes going to/fro city center and big towns, parallel routes may have to be created at a distance of 5 miles apart to serve not-yet-served population centers along the way. for example, the long geylang/changi road (parallel to the east-west line to bedok and tampines) where many fellow sammyboys go to every evening for r&r deserves a brand new track of its own. and call that the 'happy ending' line.
