Search the Community

SINGAPORE - Transport operator SBS Transit will continue running the 17 bus routes under the Bukit Merah bus package but has lost the 26 routes under the Jurong West package to SMRT Buses. The new five-year contracts for the two packages will start progressively from the second quarter of 2024. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced the results of the tender for the two bus packages on Friday evening, nearly nine months after it was called in late November 2022. The 17 bus routes in the Bukit Merah package serve Bukit Merah town and the Central Business District, and include two cross-border services to Johor Bahru. The buses use the Ulu Pandan Bus Depot. SBS Transit will continue managing the Bukit Merah and HarbourFront bus interchanges under the new contract, which will start immediately after the current one expires in April 2024. It first won the contract through a tender in 2018. The Jurong West bus package comprises 26 routes covering Jurong, Boon Lay and Tuas. They operate from the Soon Lee Bus Depot in the Jurong industrial estate. In addition to the buses, services and depot, SMRT Buses will take over the Joo Koon and Boon Lay bus interchanges. It will start operating the package in September 2024.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sbs-transit-apologises-for-outdated-hari-raya-aidilfitri-greetings-on-mrt-train Honest mistake.

An Isuzu cement truck beats the red light signal while turning and hits an SBS bus along Aljunied Road on Thursday (June 4). The force of the collision threw the bus driver out of his seat and caused the vehicle to mount the road divider, resulting in a second crash with a stationary Toyota Hiace van. Based on the video, the bus ended up crashing through a fence of a nearby construction site while the cement truck appeared to be damaged from the collision as well. According to this Mothership post, the bus driver and two other passengers have been sent to Raffles Hospital on the same day. The driver has since been discharged and is on hospitalisation leave. Netizens' reactions With an increasing number of heavy vehicle accidents in recent years, it is wiser for drivers to slow down and take more caution while manoeuvring these bulky vehicles.

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.

Who is right here? Is this mask legal?

Please remove if already posted. If not please help to rename the title. Looks like a brighter future for bus commuters ..... if they succeed, http://www.sgcarmart.com/news/article.php?AID=12931 The Straits Times reported that Tower Transit which had submitted the third lowest bid, will operate the new Bulim Bus Depot - off Jurong West Avenue 2 - and 26 bus services from the Jurong East, Bukit Batok and Clementi bus interchanges progressively from the second quarter of 2016. These services are currently run by SMRT and SBS Transit. The company will get an estimated total fee of $556 million over the five-year contract period to run the services. Feeder services will run at shorter intervals of six to eight minutes. The current fleet of 290 buses serving the zone will grow to about 380. The Land Transport Authority said that commuters can expect higher service levels as all bus services will have scheduled headways of no more than 15 minutes in both directions during the morning and evening peaks. "The restructuring of the public bus industry and the injection of more competition will bring about even higher bus service levels for commuters. With bus contracting, the Government will plan bus services and can thus be more responsive to changes in ridership and commuter needs," said LTA's chief executive officer Chew Men Leong. Under the new regime, the Government owns the buses and other infrastructure, collects all the revenue from fares and pays transport firms to operate the routes.

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??

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/get-inspired/nsf-told-to-leave-bus-after-failing-to-pay-fare-then-comes-across-a-life-saver What an embarrassment to the bus company! These soldiers protect our livelihoods and free will. What is $1-2 in respect to that??

A Ferrari and an SBS Transit bus collided along Mountbatten Road on Friday night (June 26). The New Paper reader Mr Roy Lee was at home when he heard a loud bang at about 10.15pm. He said he came out to see the front of a Ferrari 456 Italia Spyder bumped up against a double decker bus. While he did not see how the accident happened, Mr Lee said the Ferrari was facing against traffic flow. Fortunately no one was hurt in the accident. A spokesman from the Singapore Civil Defence Force said two fire bikes and one ambulance were dispatched to the scene. shit. wrong section.

28 injured after bus collision at Changi Road POSTED: 04 Jun 2015 12:02 UPDATED: 04 Jun 2015 12:10 Bus collision at Changi Road. (Photo: Jack Teo) A A SINGAPORE: Twenty-eight people were sent to the hospital on Thursday morning (Jun 4) following an accident involving three buses along Changi Road, near Masjid Kassim. The Singapore Civil Defence Force said they were alerted to the accident at 9.30am and dispatched a fire engine, three ambulances and three support vehicles. Those injured were sent to Changi General Hospital. A hotline caller, Jack Teo, notified Channel NewsAsia of the accident at 10.14am, and sent us the following pictures of the incident. Pics from CNA

Here we go again & the spin doctors are hard at it doing window dressing; http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/from-april-a-2-8-hike-in/1605426.html SINGAPORE: There will be an overall increase of 2.8 per cent to public transport fares following the conclusion of the 2014 Fare Review Exercise, the Public Transport Council (PTC) announced on Wednesday (Jan 21). How the 2.8 per cent figure was calculated: By aggregating the 3.4 per cent fare adjustment quantum carried over from the 2013 Fare Review Exercise with the -0.6 per cent figure from 2014, the PTC said. But fares for senior citizen, and existing monthly travel concession prices will not rise, said the PTC. The Transport Ministry separately announced on Wednesday that fares for lower-wage workers and persons with disabilities will not increase, while the monthly concession pass for persons with disabilities will remain at S$60 per month. “In total, more than 1.1 million commuters will see their fares unchanged,” the PTC said in a press release. FARE CHANGES FROM APRIL From Apr 5 this year, adult card fares for buses and trains will increase by 2 to 5 cents, while student concessionary fares will increase by 1 cent, the PTC announced. Cash fares for adult bus and train rides will increase by 10 cents, while senior and student cash fares will remain unchanged. The prices of all monthly concession passes for adults, National Servicemen and senior citizens will remain the same, it reiterated. The PTC said bus and train fares will continue to be affordable, even for lower-income groups, as household income growth has generally outpaced household expenditure in public transport. For instance, in 2013, the second quintile (the 21st to 40th income percentile) and second decile (11th to 20th income percentile) of households in Singapore spent 2.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent of their monthly income on public transport, respectively. These were down from the 3.2 per cent and 4.6 percent, respectively, in 2003, it said. Said PTC Chairman Richard Magnus: “In approving the fare increase and deciding on the quantum, the Council made a concerted effort to minimise the impact on commuters, even to the extent of insulating some from the increase altogether. Overall, the fare adjustments for the 2014 fare exercise are lower than last year’s adjustments.” IMPACT ON OPERATORS With the fare increments, the PTC said the two public transport operators – SBS Transit and SMRT – will have to contribute S$5.5 million and S$8 million, respectively, to the Public Transport Fund. The total of S$13.5 million is S$2 million more than their contribution last year, according to the press release. The Government will utilise the Public Transport Fund to provide Public Transport Vouchers to lower-income households to mitigate the increase in their travel expenditure, it added. “I am always very concerned not only with making transport fares affordable, but making sure that our low-income families who need more assistance will be looked after,” Mr Magnus said. “The contributions to the Public Transport Fund by the operators will help defray the travel expenditure of these needy families.” "PLEASED" VULNERABLE GROUPS NOT AFFECTED BY HIKES: LUI Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said on Facebook that he was "pleased" that more than 1.1 million commuters, particularly more vulnerable groups like senior citizens and persons with disabilities, will not experience a fare increase. "Looking at the overall outcome of this year’s fare adjustment exercise, I believe the Public Transport Council has achieved a good balance between keeping fares affordable for Singaporeans and maintaining the viability and sustainability of our public transport system," he wrote. He added that the 250,000 public transport vouchers of S$30 will be provided to needy commuters, and the ministry aims to simplify the application process further. "We also have other plans on the meaningful use of the Public Transport Fund and I will share these with you when we are ready," the minister said.

Dear All My dad last time had used his cpf to buy Sbs transit share using cpf only. The previlige is that he is able to buy the bus stamp which he likes.. Ill fate has fallen upon him and now he is literally deaf in both ears.... cause of that he cant really hold permanent job and he is due to get his money from cpf which is not that much soon...now he wants to sell half of it and i have been calling cpf... and up to now i was asked to call here n there... may i know if any1 here has any contacts or know how to sell...but he wants to sell only half cause he still wanna keep some so he can still buy the bus stamp.... will they still allow him to buy if he sells half of his share

Remember the 1994 movie "Speed" starring Keanu Reeves? We have one here. I mean just the bus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oodOLliNTx4 Tan Tam Mei | The New Paper | Monday, Feb 17, 2014 SINGAPORE - He heard vehicles behind him honking before he saw an SBS Transit bus barrelling towards him, against the flow of traffic. Fortunately, he swerved to the left in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding a collision with the oncoming bus Thursday. The motorcyclist, who wanted to be known only as Mr Amir, said: "If I had reacted one or two seconds later, I might not be here already." The runaway bus was originally travelling along Hougang Avenue 3 towards Lorong Ah Soo when it failed to stop at the red light junction at Bartley Road East. It hit the back of a car and two motorcycles, before driving straight into oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the road. The incident took place at around 4.30pm Thursday. Mr Amir, 31, a clerk at a law firm, was on his way home along Hougang Avenue 3 when he came face-to-face with the runaway bus, which he estimates was travelling at about 70kmh. "One of my first thoughts was: 'Am I on the wrong side of the road?' I turned back after stopping, but the bus was still going," he said. He managed to swerve out of the way and stay on his bike as the bus continued past him, before coming to a stop when it hit a road divider Mr Amir parked his motorcycle by the side of the road, and his previous training as a traffic policeman during his national service days kicked in. He rushed over to help the other motorists involved in the accident. "There were about four or five other people who stopped to help also," he said. He went to check on the two motorcyclists who were lying unconscious on the side of the road first, before checking on the driver, whose car had ended up at the centre of the junction. The driver, Mr Bryan Cai, 30, a project manager at a building and construction firm, who was alone in the car, said: "The green turning arrow was in my favour. But the bus still came towards me at a high speed. I'm still in shock." Mr Amir then asked a passer-by to call the Traffic Police. The police said three people were injured and taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The New Paper understands that one of them is a bus passenger and the other two the motorcyclists. The cause of the runaway bus is still unknown. It was also unclear how many passengers were on board. Ms Tammy Tan, senior vice-president of corporate communications at SBS Transit, said the bus captain involved will be suspended while investigations are still ongoing. In his manoeuvre to avoid the runaway bus, the key to Mr Amir's motorcycle fell out and got lost, so he had to leave it there. "I helped out. But now it will be very inconvenient for me to travel for work. I don't even know if I can claim insurance for this," he said

Why is it that reducing waiting and in-vehicle times does not seem to make public transport users happy? The debate on improving public transport service quality and affordability is unending. Suggestions have ranged from having more competition to ensuring efficiency to zero fares and even the nature of public transport itself. These discussions, however, skirt the central issue. A journey by public transport is actually a chain of trips. A trip from an origin to a destination typically consists of walk time to the bus stop or MRT terminal, wait time, in-vehicle time and access time to the final destination. The time of each component will vary by mode, distance travelled, trip purpose (i.e. office commute, shopping, social) and by time of the day. When a transfer between modes is involved, this makes the total time travelling by public transport unattractive compared to travel by car. In recent months, laudable efforts have been made to improve wait and in-vehicle times of bus and MRT rides by increasing the fleet of buses and reducing the time between train arrivals. In 2008, the Land Transport Master Plan (LTMP) stated: "Average public transport journey times will be reduced from 1.7 times of that by car today to 1.5 times by 2020 to make public transport more competitive relative to cars. "Our end in mind is to have a public transport system that will be so attractive that users with choice, i.e. those who can have access to cars, will say that 'my other car is a bus or train'." The 2013 LTMP focuses on addressing the four main components of the typical public transport journey - the first and last kilometre, wait time and in-vehicle time. This is being done through improvements such as seamless connectivity from home to terminal, more public transport infrastructure and investments in operating assets. A 2001 study by Professor Mark Wardman at the University of Leeds' Institute for Transport Studies in the UK has shown that walking and waiting times are perceived as being between two and three times more annoying than in-vehicle time regardless of the level of traffic congestion. These assessments will vary across circumstances, such as a journey to work versus participation in leisure activities. It will also vary when compared with in-vehicle time by car, bus or the MRT. The number of transfers, whether involving crossing a bridge or a long walk in-between, will also influence the way people perceive walk and wait times. So will the extent to which access involves pedestrian delays at junctions and crossings. In fact, the level of irritation caused by walk and wait times can be 1.5 to 8 times the perceived value of in-vehicle time. The point, therefore, is to view accessibility and mobility as a total experience. Minimising in- vehicle and wait times is just one aspect of the experience. It involves making the trip a pleasant one from the time a person steps out of the home to the time he arrives at his final destination. Making public transport the backbone of a city's mobility requires giving the public transport user priority. It entails minimising pedestrian delays and creating walkway connectivity within the city. But it will also mean making it more costly to drive into and park within the Central Business District. Electronic Road Pricing and limited parking facilities will lead to a more efficient allocation of scarce city space. Prioritising public transport may mean the development of "closed urban areas" where buildings are interconnected by sheltered pedestrian walkways. Walking - and perhaps cycling - will be a safe, healthy, viable and a delightful experience. Within the closed urban area, cars will not get priority. The "first and last kilometre" will then be an attractive link in the public transport trip. The 2013 Land Transport Master Plan and the just-released Fare Review Mechanism Committee Report are steps in the right direction if effectively implemented. Further, the Fare Review Mechanism Committee Report, in addressing the needs of the economically disadvantaged, enhances accessibility to jobs and centres of human capital development such as institutions of education. This together with real-time public information about public transport schedules might just nudge car users at the margin to use public transport. It might also lead to the spreading of the peak period when commuters choose to travel at alternative times, ease human congestion at MRT stations and bus terminals, and make the journey by public transport a pleasant experience. -- ST FILE PHOTO by Anthony Chin The writer is associate professor of transport economics, deputy director of the Singapore Centre for Applied and Policy Economics, and director of the Economics Executive Programme, NUS.