SMRT Buses
 | |
 SMRT Mercedes-Benz OC500LE on 300 | |
| Parent | SMRT Corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 31 May 1982 (as TIBS) 10 May 2004 (rebranded after merger) |
| Headquarters | 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) |
| Chief executive | Saw Phaik Hwa |
| Website | smrt.com.sg |
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),188R(Choa Chu Kang Interchange), as well as 963R (Woodlands Regional Interchange) were launched to the Resorts World Sentosa. More services can be expected. Concessions passes and prices are non applicable on these services.
As of 29 November 2010, 8 bus services and 4 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
Bus Depots
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nissan Diesel U31RCN | 
|
Fuji Heavy Industries | 1990 | 50 | CSS178K-CSS207K, TIB362M-TIB377X, TIB1248D-TIB1256E except CSS199A, CSS200D, CSS201B and CSS206M | Only CSS185P, CSS194M, CSS196H, CSS204T, CSS205R, CSS207K, TIB362M, TIB363K, TIB365E, TIB366C, TIB368Y, TIB369U, TIB370P and TIB375B are left. | |
| DAF SB220 | 
|
Walter Alexander Sentata | 1995 | 45 | TIB675K-TIB724C | 5 buses were deregistered: TIB675K, TIB680U, TIB696A, TIB718X and TIB724C Had been refurbished TIB707C is the 1st edition of best refurbished interior TIB691M and TIB719T are the 2nd edition of refurbished interior in September 2009 | |
| Dennis Lance | 
|
Duple Metsec | 1998 | 68 | TIB906U-TIB946D TIB1257C |
3 buses were deregistered: TIB931X, TIB936H and TIB941S UMW | |
|
2000 | TIB1002X-TIB1016G | TIB1004R is deregistered Some buses will act as services 852, 853 and 985 UK | ||||
|
Volgren | TIB1017D and TIB1018B | |||||
| Hino HS3KRK | 
|
Volgren | 1998 | 12 | TIB905Y | Demonstrator TIB905Y had refurbished seats Now on services 941 and 947, inculding 189A | |
|
1999 | TIB947B-TIB957Y | |||||
| Mercedes-Benz O405 | 
|
Hispano Carrocera | 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 Carrocera | 1996 | 57 | TIB838H TIB849B-TIB904A |
TIB900K is deregistered TIB860S, TIB861P and TIB866B are refurbished Refurbishment ongoing Mk 1 "Box" | |
|
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) TIB982Z is refurbished Refurbishment ongoing Mk 2 "Smiley" | ||
.JPG)
|
TIB1019Z-TIB1023K TIB1025E-TIB1177A TIB1198P-TIB1247G |
TIB1110S is deregistered TIB1105H is refurbished Refurbishment ongoing "Habit" | |||||
|
Volgren | TIB1024H | Demonstrator | ||||
|
TIB1178Y-TIB1197S | Besides TIB1191H, all units with TIB1024H has placed with a Production Model Mobitec unit ("Mobiled" EDS) | |||||
| Scania L113CRL | 
|
ELBO | 1996 | 64 | TIB833X-TIB837K TIB839E-TIB848D |
Deregistering commence in 1st Quarter 2013 TIB840A, TIB841Y, TIB842U, TIB844P, TIB846J and TIB848D are refurbished Refurbishment ongoing, Singapore's F1RST zero step bus | |
|
Walter Alexander Strider | 1995 | TIB562C-TIB571B TIB635B-TIB674M |
TIB643C is deregistered TIB562C is the F1RST editon of refurbished interior TIB642E and TIB648P were the 2nd edition of refurbished interior Refurbishment ongoing | |||
Mercedes-Benz OC500LE 
|
|
Gemilang | 2008-2009 | 134 | SMB1H | Demonstrator, South East Asia's F1RST EURO V BUS | |
|
SMB2E-SMB67T | 1st Batch SMB40U has undergone an expirement for batch 2 OC500LE seats covers South East Asia's F1RST EURO V BUS | |||||
|
SMB68R-SMB134H | 2nd Batch Fewer units were served as service 858 South East Asia's F1RST EURO V BUS | |||||
| Mercedes-Benz Citaro (O530)
|
|
Mercedes-Benz EvoBus AG | 2010 | 66 | SMB136C |
South East Asia's F1RST 100% low-floor Euro V bus, 1 demonstrator bus on the roads Now with service 855 | |
| Zhongtong LCK6112G Hybrid
|
Zhongtong Integral Body | 2010 | 1 | SMB137A |
SMRT First Hybrid Bus. Haven't registered yet by SMRT Buses - on test run | ||
| MAN NL323F
|
|
MCV Evolution | 2010 | 1 | SMB138Y |
Demostrator for service 961 Singapore's first bus bodied in MCV eVolution and to have out swinging sliding doors, SMRT's first bus made by MAN. |
Non-commissioned buses
| Model | Image | Bodywork | Year | Units to be introduced | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King Long XMQ6121G Hybrid
|
King Long Integral Body | 2010 | 1 | Demonstrator |
Former buses
| Model | Image | Bodymaker | Year Introduced | Units Introduced | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nissan Diesel U31RCN | 
|
Fuji Heavy Industries | 1992-1993 | 30 | Only CSS185P, CSS194M, CSS196H, CSS204T, CSS205R, CSS207K, TIB362M, TIB363K, TIB365E, TIB366C, TIB368Y, TIB369U, TIB370P and TIB375B are left. |
| DAF SB220 | Hispano | 1994 | 34 | ||
| Yutong ZK6126
|
|
Yutong Integral Body | 2009 | 1 | Demostrator registered as SMB135E Singapore's first Made in China citybus. SMRT rejected the bus after the 1 year trial and the bus was sent back to Yutong. |
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 wheelchair-accessible route.
References
External links
