SMRT Buses

SMRT Buses

SMRT Mercedes-Benz OC500LE on 300
Parent	SMRT Corporation
Founded	31 May 1982 (as TIBS) 10 May 2004 (rebranded after merger)
Locale	Singapore
Service type	Bus service
Routes	98
Stations	6 (Interchanges) 2 (Terminals) 3 (Depots)
Fleet	991 buses
Daily ridership	790,466 (as of September 2009)
Website	smrt.com.sg

A mix of resprayed buses in red livery with some in older, yellow Tibs livery parked at Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange

Interior of a Mercedes-Benz O405G with Hispano Habit bodywork

SMRT Buses (originally Trans Island Bus Services (TIBS) ) is a public bus transport operator in Singapore. Singapore currently hosts a duopoly transport system in which SMRT's only competitor is SBS Transit, which also operates bus services in Singapore. The company was incorporated as TIBS on 31 May 1982, in a heavily regulated market, to be a competitor to Singapore Bus Service. In accordance with restructuring at parent company SMRT Corporation, TIBS was renamed "SMRT Buses" on 10 May 2004.

History

In 1982, the company ran with a fleet of 37 buses and two services, 160 and 167. Later, more services were handed over to them by the government along with the tender to operate services in the northern region, mainly Yishun and the developing Woodlands New Town.

In 1995, as part of the government's plan to make the local bus system more competitive, 16 SBS services were handed over to TIBS along with the tender to operate bus services in the north-east corridor, mainly the developing towns Sengkang and Punggol as well as Bukit Panjang.

In 1996, TIBS began operations at the Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange, Singapore's first underground bus interchange. It was also the first bus interchange designed to accommodate articulated, or bendy buses. TIBS used articulated buses, some of which were designed by world-renowned designer Pininfarina and known as the Habit bendy buses, on a large scale in its fleet, in contrast to the double-deckers used by SBS Transit.

Things changed in 1999, when SBS won the tender to operate the North East Line in the north-east corridor. In order to allow better coordination and synergy between rail and buses, SBS was allowed to take back control of bus services in the northeast. In return, TIBS and SMRT agreed to merge, and TIBS was to operate bus services in the north-west corridor towns of Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok.

The handover was done in stages. Eight TIBS services in the northeastern corridor were handed over to SBS in 1999. In 2004, the merger was officially complete, and TIBS officially adopted the name SMRT Buses to reflect their merger with SMRT.

In 2008, SMRT Buses initiated a fleet replacement to replace the retiring Nissan Diesel buses with 134 wheelchair-accessible Mercedes-Benz OC500LE buses. All the Mercedes-Benz OC500LEs are in service and are equipped with In Bus Announcement Systems.

In the following year, SMRT Buses bought another 66 facelifted Citaro rigids. Currently, the demonstrator bus is serving SMRT Bus Service 855, Plying between Yishun Interchange and Harbourfront Interchange via Upper Thomson Road, Farrer Road and Lower Delta Road.

In January 2010, SMRT Buses has announced that there will be services from Mainland Singapore to Resorts World Sentosa. These routes are served by the Mercedes-Benz OC500LE which are equipped with the in bus announcement system. RWS 8 (Harbourfront MRT)and 88 (City Hall MRT),188R(Choa Chu Kang Interchange), as well as 963R (Woodlands Regional Interchange). More services can be expected. Concessions passes and prices are non applicable on these services.

As of 1 June 2009, 7 bus services and 3 SMRT bus interchanges are wheelchair accessible.

Bus stations

SMRT Buses operates 6 bus interchanges, 3 depots and 2 bus terminals.

Bus Interchanges

• Bukit Batok Bus Interchange
• Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange
• Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange
• Sembawang Bus Interchange
• Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange
• Yishun Bus Interchange

Bus Terminals

• Lorong 1 Geylang Bus Terminal
• Lim Chu Kang Bus Terminal

Bus Depots

• Ang Mo Kio Bus Depot
• Kranji Bus Depot
• Woodlands Bus Depot

Bus fleet

SMRT Buses currently has a fleet of 991 buses plying 98 routes, and is the second-largest bus transit company in Singapore after SBS Transit. It is the only bus operator to have an all air-conditioned fleet.

Current bus fleet

Model	Image	Bodymaker	Year Introduced	Units Introduced	Registered As	Notes
DAF SB220		Walter Alexander	1995	45	TIB675K-TIB724C	5 buses are deregistered: TIB675K, TIB680U, TIB696A, TIB718X and TIB724C
Dennis Lance		Duple Metsec	1998	68	TIB906U-TIB946D TIB1257C	3 buses are deregistered: TIB931X, TIB936H and TIB941S TIB929D is refurbished with Larger Mobitec EDS Refurbishment ongoing UMW
			2000		TIB1002X-TIB1016G	1 bus is deregistered: TIB1004R UK
		Volgren			TIB1017D and TIB1018B
Hino HS3KRK		Volgren	1998	12	TIB905Y	Demonstrator
			1999		TIB947B-TIB957Y
Mercedes-Benz O405		Hispano	1994	308	TIB425R-TIB561E TIB572Z-TIB634D	Had been refurbished TIB612S fitted with 2 additional foldable seats.
			1995		TIB725A-TIB797S	Some Had Original Seats retained,Some with new PVC seats (Process of replacing original seats to new PVC seats ongoing) Installed new Hispacold air con TIB792E had new non sliding windows installed
			1996		TIB798P-TIB832Z	Some Had Original Seats retained,Some with new PVC seats (Process of replacing original seats to new PVC seats ongoing)
		Volgren	1999	15	TIB958U-TIB972C
Mercedes-Benz O405G		Hispano	1996	57	TIB838H TIB849B-TIB904A	1 bus is deregistered: TIB900K TIB861P is refurbished Refurbishment ongoing Mk 1
		Hispano	1999-2000	258	TIB973A-TIB1001Z	Some Had Original Seats retained,Some with new PVC seats (Process of replacing original seats to new PVC seats ongoing) Mk 2
					TIB1019Z-TIB1023K TIB1025E-TIB1177A TIB1198P-TIB1247G	1 bus is deregistered: TIB1110S TIB1105H is refurbished Refurbishment ongoing Habit
		Volgren			TIB1024H	Demonstrator
					TIB1178Y-TIB1197S
Scania L113CRL		ELBO	1996	64	TIB833X-TIB837K TIB839E-TIB848D	TIB840A is refurbished Refurbishment ongoing, Singapore's F1RST zero step bus
		Walter Alexander	1995		TIB562C-TIB571B TIB635B-TIB674M	1 bus is deregistered: TIB643C Refurbishment ongoing
Mercedes-Benz OC500LE		Gemilang	2008-2009	134	SMB1H	Demonstrator, Southeast Asia's F1RST EURO V BUS
					SMB2E-SMB67T	1st Batch
					SMB68R-SMB134H	2nd Batch
Mercedes-Benz Citaro (O530)		Mercedes-Benz	2010	66	SMB136C	South East Asia's F1RST 100% low-floor Euro V bus, 1 demonstrator bus on the roads, 65 buses deliveries ongoing
Zhongtong LCK6112G		Zhongtong Bus	2010	1	SMB137A	SMRT First Hybrid Bus, deliveries ongoing

Non-commissioned buses

Model	Image	Bodywork	Year	Units to be introduced	Notes
King Long XMQ6121G Hybrid		King Long	2010	1	Demonstrator

Former buses

Model	Image	Bodymaker	Year Introduced	Units Introduced
Nissan Diesel U31RCN		Fuji Heavy Industries	1992-1993	30
DAF SB220		Hispano	1994	34
Yutong ZK6126		Yutong	2009	1

Bus routes

SMRT Buses operates many different types of bus routes and bus services, taking up the smaller part of the pie of Singapore's duopoly bus system in almost all areas of Singapore especially the North and Northwest areas.

• Trunk: Routes that ply between towns. These are the basic forms of SMRT bus services. Fares are distance-related and differential up to 8 fare bands.
• Short working Trips (SWT): Routes that operate short haul trips between origin-destination pairs with high demand, such as the area near an MRT station. It operated a subset of the parent route and there can be more than one SWT per trunk route.
• Feeder: Services that operate within a neighbourhood, connecting outlying areas to the town centre or bus interchange. (Loops around from an interchange, around one or more neighbourhoods or towns and then terminates at the starting interchange). As a name suggest, it is to feed the commuters to the trunk services or MRT services at the terminal/interchange. A flat fare, equivalent to the first fare band is charged per entry.
• Intra-town: Routes that consist of combined feeder services to provide links and improve connectivity between neighborhoods within the same town. (Somewhat identical to a feeder service except that, other than when stopping a 'session', the service will not terminate at the interchange but will re-run its route immediately after letting passengers alight, in essence, a true loop)
• Express: Routes that stop at several nominated and sparsely located stops and generally run on expressways for faster travel between several towns. This is a basic-plus service charging higher fares.
• Cross Border Services: Bus services will cross the Singaporean Border into Malaysia. the bus service usually terminates at Kota Raya terminal.
• Resorts World Sentosa: Bus services start with RWS followed by 8 and 88. The service will start from HarbourFront MRT and City Hall MRT Stations.
• Premium: A single trip from the designated neighborhoods during the morning peak hours on weekdays to the CBD. Fees are flat rated ($3 to $5 depending on the distance traveled) and standing is prohibited on Premium Services. The scheduled arrival time at individual bus stops are provided.
• NightRider: After-hour services on Friday, Weekends and Eve of Public Holidays.

See also

• SMRT Service 307 - an up-to-date article on an SMRT-operated route.

External links

• SMRT Corporation
• SMRT Bus Guide