Expanding Abbreviated Bus Stop Names

Singapore bus stops are custodians of abbreviations. They are everywhere. For example, Aft Zion Full Gospel Ch or Downtown Stn. So it keeps things short when looking at bus stop signs.

However, providing the abbreviated form of these bus stop names as the suggested invocation phrase for a voice shortcut is not particularly useful for users.

In Singapore Buses, I expand the abbreviated form of the bus stop names to be pronounceable. Thus, in the example above, Aft Zion Full Gospel Ch becomes After Zion Full Gospel Church and Downtown Stn becomes Downtown Station.

I created an extension on String which replaces just over 180 abbreviations with full-form words. It’s available as a gist.