A BYD C9 electric coach is being trialled at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in support of the CDG-NUS Living Lab, a research collaboration between NUS and ComfortDelGro.

The bus is registered as PC8313P and made its debut on 19 July 2021, operating on Service A1. It is expected to be deployed on various Internal Shuttle Bus (ISB) routes as part of its trial.

Background

The CDG-NUS Smart & Sustainable Mobility Living Lab (or simply CDG-NUS Living Lab) is a new collaboration between the National University of Singapore (NUS) and ComfortDelGro that focuses on Integrated Urban Mobility, Smart and Intelligent Mobility Technologies. The electric bus trial was intended to generate mobility-related data and useful insights on electric vehicle operations on campus, with a future goal of electrifying the Internal Shuttle Bus (ISB) fleet.

The bus made its debut on 19 July 2021, operating on Service A1. The start of trials coincided with the launch of the revamped ISB network, which saw the amendment of many ISB routes. As part of NUS’ safe management measures amid COVID-19, only NUS students and staff are permitted to ride the ISB.

The electric bus provides mobility-related data that supports various research projects under the CDG-NUS Living Lab. The trial also provides NUS’ Office of Campus Amenities (OCA)⁠—which oversees the ISB network—with useful insights about electric vehicle operations as OCA looks to electrify the ISB fleet in future.

The Bus

Operations

The existing NUS ISB fleet is entirely comprised of low-floor or low-entry buses (Volvo B9L / Scania K230UB) to facilitate quick and easy passenger boarding and alighting, and allow for wheelchair accessibility. The BYD C9, being a high-floor coach, is not wheelchair-accessible and takes longer for passenger boarding and alighting. The NUS Office of Campus Amenities (OCA) has also stated that it did not plan to replace the ISB fleet with electric coaches, and would only consider wheelchair-accessible buses.

PC8313P operates outside the schedule of the regular NUS ISB fleet, i.e. it does not substitute existing scheduled departures performed by normal ISB buses. It also does not show up on the NUS NextBus mobile application. The bus driver was also observed to be recording the start trip mileage and battery state of charge before the start of every trip.

Laminated route signs on the front, side and rear indicate the bus service number.

EDS / PIS retrofit

The trial bus PC8313P was retrofitted with Electronic Display Signage (EDS) in September 2021 as documented by The ISB Man. The Kabym-branded EDS units, installed on the front, side and rear, are similar to those installed on the existing Volvo B9L fleet.

For the interior, a small LED panel was installed as a Passenger Information System (PIS), displaying the same “next stop” and “arriving” information as other ISBs, and paired with next-stop announcements. EDS, PIS, stop-reporting and location features are delivered via the Kabym AL-K80 multifunction terminal, which was added to the dashboard.