Search the Community

SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a contract totalling $1.03 billion for the Bulim and Sembawang-Yishun bus packages to Tower Transit Singapore (TTS). The five-year contract will start progressively from the second quarter of 2021. If TTS were to perform well over the period, the LTA has the option to extend the contract term by another two years thereafter. TTS currently operates the Bulim package, consisting of 29 bus services running from Bulim Depot. It will continue to manage Bukit Batok and Jurong East bus interchanges. The Sembawang-Yishun package, which is currently operated by SMRT Buses, consists of 27 bus services. These services will operate from the new Mandai Depot, which will be handed over to TTS by next month. TTS will also manage Sembawang and Yishun bus interchanges. The tender for the two bus packages was called on 29 November 2019 and bus operators had the option to bid for either bus package or for both packages. Affected SMRT employees of the Sembawang–Yishun bus package must be offered a job by the incoming operator, at employment terms that are not worse off than before the transition. Since the move to the bus contracting model, Singapore’s bus industry has benefited from the entry of two new operators, TTS and Go-Ahead Singapore, the LTA said. “This has created more job opportunities for bus workers and levelled up the industry, where the bus workforce now enjoys better working conditions as well as employment terms and conditions.” Meanwhile, National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) Executive Secretary and Radin Mas MP Melvin Yong said NTWU will work closely with SMRT and TTS to ensure that all affected workers will have a smooth transition. “The Union is committed to work with the different public transport operators to take care of our bus workers and create a safe working environment for them.” https://sg.news.yahoo.com/tower-transit-singapore-awarded-1-b-deal-to-operate-bulim-sembawang-yishun-bus-packages-122556850.html Seems the bus services operated by SMRT getting lesser and lesser.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sbs-transit-apologises-for-outdated-hari-raya-aidilfitri-greetings-on-mrt-train Honest mistake.

Need a new chair for your home office but don't want a Secret Lab chair like most people do? Check out this very familiar-looking chair that you can now buy at a starting price of $100. Thanks to a local company that specialises in scrapping vehicles, you can now own a part of our public buses that have been prowling our roads for the last 10 or more years. The company, Kim Li Huat, posted this simple and sleek Volvo B9TL CDGE chair that has been blessed with a new base on their company's facebook page, saying that if you wish to buy in bulk, the price even can be lowered. For those who wonder where these seats came from, a quick search on the web showed that these Volvo buses have been plying on our roads for about 15 years (out of their 17-year statutory lifespan) and had their interior refreshed less than 3 years ago before they were taken out of service. Credits to landtransportguru for the info and photos.

SINGAPORE — SBS Transit bus captains who are Singaporeans or permanent residents (PRs) will be able to earn about S$3,460 a month under a new salary package, about 15 per cent more than before, the public transport operator and National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) announced on Thursday (June 1). Under the new salary scheme, new Singaporean and PR bus captains will start with a monthly basic salary of S$1,950, higher than the current S$1,775. Together with a new reliability incentive, overtime and other perks, the drivers can hit a gross monthly salary of about S$3,460. Male drivers will have two weeks of paternity leave and all drivers will get free travel on all trains and basic bus services, free annual health screening and S$500 of flexi-benefits. SBS Transit’s revised salary package will benefit close to 10,000 employees, of whom 6,500 are bus captains. The company hopes to attract more Singaporeans and permanent residents. NTWU executive secretary Melvin Yong said the revised employment terms are timely and sets a good example in the fast-growing industry, which on Sunday saw the new bus contracting model begin operations. Under the new model, the Government pays fees to bus operators operate bus services, while it retains the fare revenue and owns the buses, depots and fleet management system. Two overseas operators, Tower Transit and Go-Ahead, clinched tenders for the first two bus packages and Tower Transit began the first phase of its rollout on Sunday, taking over nine services from SMRT. http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/sbs-transit-announces-higher-pay-sporean-pr-bus-captains Anyone interested??

Darn, whole farking Macpherson road was paralysed, from 3 lanes to 2 lane. What better service ... blah blah blah ... wtf, stop the crap, maintain your vehicles properly. BTW, can we who stuck in the jam claim SBS Transit ??

SBS will buy 450 Mercedes Benz Citaro single deck buses and 550 Volvo B9TL double deck buses at a cost of $443 million. They are scheduled for delivery from as early as January 2013. All buses are powered by Euro 5-compliant engines and will have wheelchair-friendly features. Of the 1,000 new buses, 260 will be funded by the Government under the Bus Services Enhancement Programme (BSEP), while SBS Transit will fund the 740 buses under its growth and fleet replacement plans. http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/press/2012-07-09-01.aspx

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/sabotage-not-rule...disruption.html as if there is another train/bus operator in singapore they think of every excuses.... sibei power

SMRT, SBS Transit fined for service quality breaches By Joanne Chan | Posted: 21 October 2011 2028 hrs SINGAPORE: Bus operators SMRT and SBS Transit have been fined by the Public Transport Council (PTC) for service quality breaches. For the six-month period from 1 December 2010 to 31 May 2011, both operators had instances of failing to depart from bus interchanges on time, and also exceeding the maximum passenger load. SBS Transit was fined S$700, and SMRT S$300. Chairman of the Public Transport Council, Gerard Ee, said: "Although the operators have generally been able to meet the Quality of Service standards set for basic bus services, the latest performance results indicate that they face some challenges in continuing to deliver service quality as public transport ridership increases." To address this problem, Mr Ee noted that the operators are investing in more new buses and recruiting more drivers. The Land Transport Authority is also currently reviewing the bus service levels to address issues of crowdedness, frequency and reliability. -CNA/ac Fined $700 / $300 for service breaches? Can we bill them back for time lost, etc when their buses break down? Freaking joke, might as well dont fine and tell them they are doing a good job.

3 letters. WTF CNA

Dear fellow brothers, Do anyone of u haf any recommendation for servicing workshop for ford transit connect(van)? My company van's warranty is over n i do not wish to send it back to the authorised agent for its too expensive n i find their efficiency to b in doubt.... Do u guys haf any recommendation? Thanks

Dear bros, Does anyone of u know of any workshop who can repair air con for ford transit connect (Van)? The van air con has not been working well as it is cool when its on the move n there's no cold air when is stationery. Further checks wif agent n wat they feedback is compressor is not working fine. so does any bros here haf any idea if there's any other workshop who can repair air con for ford transit connect? Thanks

Hi all As in the topic title, can I bring a coffee bought in the transit area up a plane in Changi Airport? Thanks.

By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 13 August 2009 1918 hrs SINGAPORE : SBS Transit is investing S$159 million to buy 350 new buses. This brings the company's total investment in new buses over the last three years to S$586 million. The new buses are expected to roll out next year. They are from two Swedish bus manufacturers - Scania and Volvo. The Scania order involving 200 single-deck Euro V buses is worth an estimated S$72 million, while the Volvo order of 150 double-deck Euro V buses is worth about S$87 million. The latest order for the new single and double-deck buses will significantly lower the average age of SBS Transit's bus fleet to slightly over 8 years from about 11 years now. With the new buses, that means one in two SBS Transit buses on the road will be new. In total, SBS Transit will have 1,450 new buses in its fleet. SBS Transit is Singapore's largest public scheduled bus operator, with close to 3,000 buses, 97 per cent of which are air-conditioned. Of these, 1,970 are single-deck buses, while the remaining are double-deckers. SBS Transit currently operates over 250 bus services and carries some 2.2 million passenger trips a day. - CNA /ls http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin.../448656/1/.html

saw this on MrBrown's blog. http://sbsnextbus.appspot.com/ can use your phone web browser to access, need not worry about when your next bus is coming. blog: http://antrix.net/journal/techtalk/sbsnextbus.html working mechanism: http://antrix.net/journal/techtalk/sbsnextbus2.html (technical)

So this is profit not enough or losing money ??? Since begining, all this should be a kind of public service company...We are always told wage inflation do not work....But if company are making more money just simply by cutting on the common folks and making their Director etc have more dividened !!!! ""They"" earn more by taking more from common folks....but common folks cannot ask for wage inflation...seem like the rich always get richer are looking more and more obvoious day after day in sillypore!!!! http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20080802/tap-...at-231650b.html

,,,as dog fails sniff test From ST 27-May-2008, Tokyo Ah unsuspecting passenger flew to Tokyo carrying one million yen(S$13,200) worth of cannabis after a sniffer dog failed a test, Custom officials said. An officer at Narita International Airport on Sunday stuffed 142g of the drug into the side pocket of a randomly selected black suitcase coming off an overseas flight to test the dog's ability to detect drugs. "The dog couldn't find it and the officer "forgot which bag he had put it in", a Custom Office spokesman said yesterday. "If, by some chance, passengers find it in their suitcase, we're asking them to return it," she said. Source: Agence France-Presse ________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Scarry! What happen if that passenger has a forward journey to say Singapore? 142g!

dear fellow bros, do anyone of u haf any feedback on dis commercial vehicle ford transit connect? hope u guys can share some comments if u haf any. thanks bro n happy new yr to u guys

Also stated in today "The New Paper" that both the transport operators will be applying to Public Transport Council to raise bus and train fare in the annual fare revision exercise. "The fare changes, if accepted, will be announced next month and will kick in by October" as stated in the paper. Very soon, taxi, private bus companies, school bus.... etc will follow suit and asked for increase. So everything is increasing and hurt our pocket. How to encourage to have more children.

Channel NewsAsia SINGAPORE: Both SBS Transit and SMRT have applied to the Public Transport Council to raise bus and train fares. The exact fare increment will be determined later, using a standard formula, in this annual fare revision exercise. Energy costs have been a big drain on the two big public transport operators. Both companies have quoted rises of between 20 and 26 percent in this area alone. SBS Transit said manpower costs

*Petite passenger gets mad after SBS driver confiscates her expired concession card *She shouts vulgarities, rips hole in his pants STANDING at 1.86m and with a muscular physique honed in the gym, Mr William Su cuts an intimidating figure. But inside his bus cabin, the 33-year-old driver was helpless against the rage of a woman who measured only 1.6m tall. The petite 20-year-old was so vicious that she drew blood as she lashed out at him, leaving four bloody puncture marks on his left forearm. She also tore his right trouser pocket. The reason for her rage: Mr Su had confiscated her expired concession card. The woman had boarded SBS service 55 with a male companion around 6.10pm at Hougang Ave 3 last Tuesday. The bus was heading for Bishan Bus Interchange from Marine Parade. She had tapped her wallet against the card reader, which emitted five continuous beeps. Mr Su checked his fare console and saw that it registered an expired concession card. He asked to look at it. She showed him an adult ez-link card, but he insisted on seeing the expired concession card. She handed it to him, and he explained that he had to follow company procedure to retain expired concession cards. She replied that he had no right to keep the card, which she claimed she used as an identity card. As he had to issue two test tickets as part of the procedure for retaining cards, the bus captain left his cabin to use the ticket collection machine behind his seat. But the woman stood beside the door of his cabin and refused to budge. When he tried to unlatch the door, she pushed the door shut with force. Said the soft-spoken bus driver in Mandarin: 'I was shocked at her sudden show of violence. 'Then her male friend came up and said threateningly: 'You better know what to do and return her the card',' said Mr Su. Meanwhile, she continued shouting at him, insisting on the return of her card. Mr Su immediately contacted the Operations Control Centre to ask for help. He was told a mobile traffic inspector had been despatched and he was to proceed on his route in the meantime. A few stops later, as passengers were boarding, the woman, who was still standing beside his cabin, suddenly reached for his left breast pocket in which he had placed an envelope containing her confiscated card. Mr Su blocked her with his left arm. Thwarted, she insulted and cursed him. 'She kept saying that she hoped I would get into an accident,' he said. Then she suddenly grabbed hold of his left arm and refused to let go. The quick-thinking Mr Su used his right hand to transfer the envelope to his right trouser pocket. At the same time, he asked a passenger near the front to be a witness to the incident. He asked the woman to let go, but she flew into an uncontrollable rage, flinging herself across his body and grabbing wildly for his right trouser pocket. She kept clawing at him in a bid to reach the envelope in the pocket. 'I couldn't stop her, all I could do was to remain calm and tell her that I had to retain her card,' said Mr Su. 'Suddenly I heard a loud rip, and knew my trousers had been torn. I also realised my left arm was bleeding.' ASKED HER TO STOP He pointed out his bleeding arm to her and again asked her to stop. Only then did she reluctantly let go. The girl then phoned her sister and Mr Su heard her saying that he had confiscated her card and beaten her. Mr Su quickly reminded the witness to take note of the actual events. The witness, Mr Dennis Yap, 30, a sales executive, said he was shocked by the violent attack. 'She is only 1.6m tall and of average build, but she was so aggressive. She even hurled Hokkien vulgarities at the bus driver,' he said. Mr Su said the insults and attack upset him, but he told himself to remain calm and not retaliate, as he had been trained to do. Mr Yap agreed that Mr Su had handled the situation well. 'She kept disturbing him and even grabbed him while he was trying to drive. She could have caused an accident. It was peak hour and the bus was almost full,' he said. 'She had no consideration for the safety of all on board. Luckily, the driver kept calm throughout. Not once did he lose his temper or raise his voice. 'He remained polite and explained nicely to her that he was following company procedure even after she got so violent.' Following instructions from the Operations Control Centre, Mr Su stopped the bus along Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, and allowed the other passengers to transfer to another bus. Even then, the girl blocked his way and refused to let him leave his cabin to help the passengers. Finally, she relented and left the bus with her male companion, lighting up a cigarette outside. Her brother-in-law and the police arrived around 7.20pm. APOLOGY Said Mr Su: 'Her brother-in-law kept apologising to me and asked me to drop the matter. But the woman and her friend showed no remorse. They never even offered an apology. Her friend kept insisting I was wrong to retain the card.' SBS Transit's director for corporate communications, Ms Tammy Tan, said concession cards are issued by TransitLink only to individuals eligible for concessionary travel privileges on public transport. They are non-transferable and are coded with information on their validity to avoid any misuse. She said the woman had presented an expired concession card and wanted to enjoy concessionary travel. In line with company procedures, this is not allowed and bus captains are authorised to retain concession cards or any ez-link cards for investigation,' said Ms Tan. We are viewing this matter seriously and are working with the police.' The police said they are investigating the incident. http://newpaper.asiaone.com.sg/news/...136428,00.html? Maybe a jail term for that