Actions taken:

1. The plan was to incorporate a prepared handout (Appendix 8) and questionnaire about the overuse of cars into the UBD website. As UBD prohibits the publication of students’ work on the UBD website, the handouts were only printed out and distributed by hand.

2. A meeting with an administrative officer of UBD was held to find out the feasibility of the provisioning for frequent efficient buses to cater to UBD population’s transportation needs. It was found out that UBD already has three contracting buses, charging $100-$200 per day of usage. The cost and time spent on maintenance of buses is also very high. On the issue of parking permits or tickets, UBD’s population would complain if they had to pay for it every day. It would be better that the students’ welfare section provide these buses for a monthly fee from the students. These plans, however, would take several years to fruition as such an endeavour would need approval from relevant higher authorities and lengthy procedures.

3. An interview was made with the manager of the bus company catering to UBD. Several suggestions were made by the manager. Passengers can contact the bus drivers or bus operation centre to provide efficient timing thus reducing waiting time, frequent UBD passengers need only show their UBD cards to be given a discount, bus frequency is subject to commuter demand, the drivers need emergency training and cultural awareness of the Bruneian passengers, and free travel for the disabled as the buses currently have no specific designs to cater to them.

4. An interview session was conducted with JPD officers. From them, it was found out that a new bus terminal was being planned in the Lambak Terunjing area. This would encourage the UBD population to use it. A feasibility study was conducted on Mass Rapid Transport system and electric cars but both were deemed unfeasible due to high cost to land area, of construction, manpower and maintenance. The equipment for measuring vehicle emission is currently out of order and tests were conducted only by visual assessment of exhaust fumes. There is however going to be new technology to test these to be built in the Tutong district. Zoning of areas where private vehicles are prohibited from entering were also investigated but were thought impractical.

5. Questionnaires were distributed among the UBD population to find out their views on the current public transport system and public transport in general. Due to time constraints only 45 respondents complied.