A Cosy Express to NUS

Campus – A group of entrepreneurial NUS students have started a chartered bus service specially catered to students or staff of National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Ashlie Koe, a 4th year business student, first conceived of the idea in 2007 together with another NUS student,  Joycelyn Ho. Calling it A Cosy Express, the chartered bus service caters specially for students and staff of both NUS and NTU living in the northeast and east areas — where travelling to the universities in the West side of Singapore is an issue for many.

Being students of NUS themselves, Ashli and Joycelyn had first-hand experiences of the arduous trips to school, a trip they humourously called “The Journey to the West”.

“It was such a hassle to be transferring from this bus to this train, then to that bus and finally to the internal shuttle bus just to reach class late again,” Ashli tells us. ”And fellow students at school were found to have to have the same woes as well.”

And this was their initial spark that got A Cosy Express started.

Has NUS been supportive of their entrepreneurial attempts?
Ashli says that to a large extent, NUS did.

“NUS has been accomodating and supportive of our entrepreneurial endeavors,”

“Many faculties have helped us in our email blast and we are very thankful of their assistance,” However, Ashli was quick to add that if a link to their service was featured on the school’s homepage, it would have been much better.

The pair faced slight issues with the NTU SAO. Despite this initial setback, the NTU students union have more than made up for this by inviting them to join their matriculation card scheme.

The first service plying the routes such as Tampines and Bedok will begin on the 2nd of Feburary. Routes involving pick-up points from the train stations along the Northeast line starting from Punggol will also be introduced soon.

And why not give it a try? It may really be better than having to squeeze on the train only to mingle with strangers during the morning rush hour traffic, and then keep hoping that the bus that will take you to school will come. On time.