Tower Transit clinches first tendered bus contract

[DACH]

Looks like it is a standard type of format from them (those wordings which i have highlighted in blue), whether it is the bus operator or even LTA and no matter which bus service and which bus operator you complain?! They just changed the bus operator name, bus service number and timing etc. Thing is after you have complain to them, did you see any improvement on the bus service?

Depends on how eager and aggressive you are.

I wrote to LTA and SMRT to request for double deckers to serve some services in Yishun. Took me years before the LTA decides on the bus contracting model. Before that happens, SMRT always gives those kind of the dumbest excuses that they cannot use double deckers, like "because SBS use them, we cannot use".

Until LTA steps in, this stupid excuse proven otherwise and the bus services improved greatly since then.

[13177]

This is the problem which the bus operators and LTA could not really solved on the fleet of buses that they used on bus services. Still dont understand why using of double decker is so difficult. Due to our population is increasing over the years, buses used here should be more double decker than single decker, unless the bus route could not operate double decker due to some constraint.

[Mustank]

All these coming at the same time together is bad

Depends on how eager and aggressive you are.

I wrote to LTA and SMRT to request for double deckers to serve some services in Yishun. Took me years before the LTA decides on the bus contracting model. Before that happens, SMRT always gives those kind of the dumbest excuses that they cannot use double deckers, like "because SBS use them, we cannot use".

Until LTA steps in, this stupid excuse proven otherwise and the bus services improved greatly since then.

Whoa!!!! Once I see Yishun

I support!!!!

Edited April 20, 2017 by Mustank

[DACH]

BREAKTHROUGH ORDER OF 50 VOLVO HYBRID BUSES TO SINGAPORE

 

http://www.volvobuses.com/en-en/news/2017/oct/breakthrough-order-of-50-volvo-hybrid-buses-to-singapore.html

 

The Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) has awarded Volvo Buses an order for 50 Volvo 7900 Hybrids in continuation of its efforts to build a more environmentally friendly public bus fleet.

 

“Not only can commuters expect quieter and smoother rides, bus captains can also enjoy a more comfortable working environment .To prepare our bus workforce for this change, LTA will work with industry partners to help upgrade our bus professionals through the Singapore Bus Academy,” the LTA said.

 

Volvo 7900 Hybrid uses 30 per cent less fuel and has a correspondingly lower climate impact than a diesel bus, and just half the nitrogen oxide and particle emissions. In total, Volvo Buses has now sold more than 3,000 hybrids worldwide.

 

Singapore is considered one of the leaders in public transportation in the Asia Pacific region. Many countries look to learn from the Singapore experience and enhance their public transport offerings. Volvo Buses are a well-respected and strong partner of the public transport operators and Transport Authorities in Singapore.

 

“The order for the hybrid buses from the Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA) is a major breakthrough and re-emphasises the technology leadership and commercial value delivered by Volvo Buses in Singapore”, said Manish Sahi, Head of Volvo Buses, Region Singapore.

 

“These buses will provide stakeholders from across the region the opportunity to experience and understand these technologies and will support Singapore as a ‘must visit’ item on the agenda of public transport regulators and operators in the region,” said Akash Passey, Senior Vice President, Volvo Buses Region International.

 

The 50 buses - which are powered by a diesel engine as well as battery power - will be rolled out gradually for service by the second half of 2018.

[inlinesix]

China rolling out Electric bus le.  We are still on hybrid bus.

[Jman888]

China rolling out Electric bus le.  We are still on hybrid bus.

 

 

they also replace motorbike with e-bike liao, cheaper and less noise and air pollution. But then doesn't help from the burning of coal from the factories and home.

[DACH]

China rolling out Electric bus le. We are still on hybrid bus.

Another tender for 60 electric buses by LTA coming soon. Expect to be in service by 2019.

[kdash]

Driverless buses to ply Punggol, Tengah, Jurong Innovation District from 2022

 

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/avs-be-piloted-punggol-tengah-jurong-innovation-district-2022

 

SINGAPORE — Residents and workers of Punggol, Tengah and the Jurong Innovation District will be the first to ride on driverless bus services and hail driverless shuttles, under a pilot that will begin in 2022.

 

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the Government is seeking input from the industry and research institutions on the features needed in these towns for the driverless vehicles to run. Launched on Wednesday (Nov 22), the request for information will close at the end of May next year.

 

The autonomous services in the towns will travel on less congested roads and during off-peak hours for a start, the Transport Ministry and Land Transport Authority (LTA) said. There will still be regular public buses driven by bus captains. Under the initiative, commuters may book driverless shuttles using their mobile phones.

 

The LTA is also exploring using driverless buses for express transit links connecting the North-East MRT Line to the North-South, East-West and Thomson-East Coast MRT Lines.

 

In April, the LTA and ST Engineering’s land-systems arm, ST Kinetics, signed an agreement on a three-and-a-half year autonomous-vehicle trial, which could pave the way for driverless buses to ferry commuters along fixed routes based on selected feeder and trunk bus services. ST Kinetics will build two 40-seat electric buses under the project.Other recent developments on autonomous vehicles here include the launch of a driverless truck on Jurong Island by Belgium-based company Katoen Natie to transport products between ExxonMobil’s packaging and intermediate storage facilities.

 

Noting that autonomous vehicles are a promising technology for Singapore given manpower constraints in public transport, Mr Khaw, who is also Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, said: “We expect that the autonomous vehicles will greatly enhance the accessibility and connectivity of our public transport system, particularly for the old, families with the young and also the less mobile.”

 

Speaking at the opening of Singapore's first test centre for autonomous vehicles, he said: "Just as our water needs help catalyse our water industry, we believe our land-transport constraints may, in fact, help us become a global player in urban mobility solutions."

 

The Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of Autonomous Vehicles – NTU (Cetran) has a 2ha facility in the Jurong Innovation District that replicates various elements of Singapore roads, with common traffic schemes and rules, for example.

 

Jointly developed by the LTA, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and JTC, it is run by NTU scientists and engineers.

 

Its test circuit, about 1.5km long, also has a rain simulator and flood zone to put autonomous vehicles' navigational abilities to the test under these conditions.

 

Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, executive director of the Energy Research Institute @ NTU, which oversees the centre, said it expects five or six companies — including start-up nuTonomy and vehicle technology supplier Delphi — to use the circuit over the next six months.

 

ST Kinetics and NTU plan to test driverless buses at the facility next year.

 

With their partners, LTA, JTC and NTU will also develop a set of common technical standards for driverless vehicles, including assessment procedures and methods.

 

Prof Subodh said the initial standards for operating the vehicles with a "safety driver" on board, as well as for running one without a driver, will be released next year.

 

On-road trials of driverless vehicles could be expanded beyond one-north to Buona Vista by January, said Mr Niels de Boer, Cetran's programme director.

 

In June, the authorities announced that on-road trials for driverless cars would be extended to areas near one-north such as Buona Vista, Dover and the National University of Singapore, adding 55km to the test routes, which used to span 12km.

 

Mr Khaw singled out safety as the top challenge for driverless vehicles.

 

"Until the people are confident that this is a safe technology, the adoption and spread of the technology will take several years," he said.

Prof Subodh said insurance and regulations are among "hurdles (that) now have to catch up with technology … (which) is moving very fast".

 

 

Edited November 22, 2017 by kdash

[Yamapi]

SBS Transit wins Bukit Merah bus package for S$472 million

 

The Bukit Merah package consists of 18 bus services, including two cross-border services. These services will operate out of the new Ulu Pandan Depot, which will be handed over to SBST in March 2018.

 

 

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/sbs-transit-wins-bukit-merah-bus-package-for-s-472-million-9985310

 

LTA scared give inexperienced operators they could screw up the 2 cross border services??

[13177]

 

SBS Transit wins Bukit Merah bus package for S$472 million

 

The Bukit Merah package consists of 18 bus services, including two cross-border services. These services will operate out of the new Ulu Pandan Depot, which will be handed over to SBST in March 2018.

 

 

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/sbs-transit-wins-bukit-merah-bus-package-for-s-472-million-9985310

 

LTA scared give inexperienced operators they could screw up the 2 cross border services??

 

SBS transit again? Then whats is the point of bringing in new players like tower transit and go ahead, when majority of bus package runs here is by SBS transit?

[Yewheng]

SBS transit again? Then whats is the point of bringing in new players like tower transit and go ahead, when majority of bus package runs here is by SBS transit?

People just very funny.. When given to the lowest bid, people complaint that lowest bid later shortcut here and there and more problems later on. Then now awarded to sbs transit which is not the lowest bid, people still complain like what's the point of bringing in new players where the bid goes big player.. WA Lao eh..

Edited February 23, 2018 by Yewheng

[13177]

People just very funny.. When given to the lowest bid, people complaint that lowest bid later shortcut here and there and more problems later on. Then now awarded to sbs transit which is not the lowest bid, people still complain like what's the point of bringing in new players where the bid goes big player.. WA Lao eh..

SBS transit not the lowest bid but also not the highest bid lo.    I still believe ultimately there will be only 2 bus companies here de, SMRT and SBS transit. Opening the market for new bus operators only for show only.

[13177]

So far there are 4 bus package put up for tender, and SBS transit awarded two bus package, whereas SMRT so far never awarded any? If many people find SMRT bus standard no good, however i also find SBS transit not that good either. Although SMRT is worst than SBS transit a bit.

[Ash2017]

I find these bus issue confusing

 

bus and train previously all private companies but government pump tax payer's 1 billion dollars into private company to buy buses

 

 

when transport got problem because of old assets, government buy over old asset from private companies at a premium. Award private companies to ONLY providing service. Then government is going to use 5.5 billions of tax payers money to replace old asset.

 

All these while private companies continue to make profit and give out dividend

 

 

its getting too complicated and confusing to really know what is really happening

Edited February 23, 2018 by Ash2017

[13177]

I find these bus issue confusing

 

bus and train previously all private companies but government pump tax payer's 1 billion dollars into private company to buy buses

 

 

when transport got problem because of old assets, government buy over old asset from private companies at a premium. Award private companies to ONLY providing service. Then government is going to use 5.5 billions of tax payers money to replace old asset.

 

All these while private companies continue to make profit and give out dividend

 

 

its getting too complicated and confusing to really know what is really happening

Confusing or complicated, this is always the case here, they do anything they want to do, no need to answer to anyone or justify what they are doing.

[DACH]

SBS transit again? Then whats is the point of bringing in new players like tower transit and go ahead, when majority of bus package runs here is by SBS transit?

Because it has been stable and consistent in providing bus services. Better than giving SMRT.

Go Ahead cmi. Screw up some of my usual bus services. No to them.

Tower Transit is the other better one and they have just taken up a few premium bus services from private operators months ago. I hope they can take away all of SMRT bus services in future. 

[DACH]

I find these bus issue confusing

 

bus and train previously all private companies but government pump tax payer's 1 billion dollars into private company to buy buses

 

 

when transport got problem because of old assets, government buy over old asset from private companies at a premium. Award private companies to ONLY providing service. Then government is going to use 5.5 billions of tax payers money to replace old asset.

 

All these while private companies continue to make profit and give out dividend

 

 

its getting too complicated and confusing to really know what is really happening

GLCs or "so called private companies", we all know all these companies are under which umbrella.

 

That's why better to depend on yourself as much as you can, because all these so called private companies are just vessels to give more money to this umbrella with our money, under the name of private context, which is indirectly linked to the public entity. Whereas the public entities still gets more money from funds by taxes from our money again.

[13177]

Because it has been stable and consistent in providing bus services. Better than giving SMRT.

Go Ahead cmi. Screw up some of my usual bus services. No to them.

Tower Transit is the other better one and they have just taken up a few premium bus services from private operators months ago. I hope they can take away all of SMRT bus services in future. 

Maybe you are right. SBS transit has been stable and consistent in providing poor standard in some of their bus services, no matter how you feedback to them, still no improvement. Although SMRT bus like seems to be bad, but when you feedback to them, at least you can see that they are making an effort to improve the bus service. Because i have started taking SBS bus and then change to SMRT bus and now back to SBS bus due to the area i am in. So i could compared the standard, bus deployment etc between both companies.

Edited February 24, 2018 by 13177