SMRT Buses

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

As of 2008, SMRT Buses is the only company in Singapore to operate an all air-conditioned fleet.

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 Woodlands Regional Interchange, Singapore's 1st 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, as compared to the double deckers used by SBS Transit.

Things changed in 1999 when SBS won the tender to operate the North East Line and bus services 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 northeastern corridor. 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. 8 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.

Bus fleet

SMRT Buses currently has a fleet of 863 buses plying 74 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. The current bus fleet includes:
* Mercedes-Benz O405
* Mercedes-Benz O405G
* Mercedes-Benz OC500LE
* Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
* Dennis Lance
* Hino HS3KRK
* DAF SB220LT
* Scania L113CRL
* Toyota Coaster
*Nissan Diesel U31RCN

Bus routes

SMRT Buses operates many different types of bus routes and bus services, taking up the majority 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 it's 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.
*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.
*SMRT Link: Free shuttle to Dhoby Ghaut, Chinatown and Little India.

External links

* [http://www.smrt.com.sg SMRT Corporation]