Peak Period Short Services (PPSS)

Peak Period Short Services (PPSS) (Chinese: 高峰时段短程巴士) were supplementary bus services introduced to alleviate peak-hour crowding on selected feeder bus routes.

which operated within selected towns, plying between MRT stations and/or bus interchanges and residential estates. They were introduced under the Bus Services Enhancement Programme (BSEP) to alleviate crowding, reduce waiting times and improve reliability during peak hours.

Peak Period Short Services ran at least five trips per hour during peak periods of weekday mornings and evenings, connecting residents between their homes and nearby MRT stations and/or bus interchanges. This initiative was in line with the Ministry of Transport’s announcement at the Committee of Supply 2013 to tap on the resources of PBOs to run shorter bus services to augment the resources of the public transport operators (PTOs).

Peak Period Short Services were completely withdrawn in 2017. Refer to the Withdrawal section below.

Tendering

A first batch of five new Peak Period Short Services opened for tender on 30th Sep 2013. The Land Transport Authority invited private bus operators to submit their cost proposals to operate the first five new short bus services as part of the BSEP. The tendering process allows for the most cost-efficient operators to win the rights to operate the services.

On 23 Dec 2013, a tender was called for another five more PPSS routes, bringing the total number to 10 routes. Another six more routes were tendered on 25 Feb 2014, bringing the total to 15 routes. Among the six, one of the services was re-tendered from 30th Sep 2013.

The duration of each contract was two years. The contracts for several PPSS routes were extended by a few months.

Tendering Details

List of PPSS Routes

Withdrawal of PPSS

Originally conceived as a provisional improvement to feeder bus services during the peak hours (to meet BSEP route frequency requirement), PPSS taps on Private Bus Operators for additional buses, thereby adding capacity to these services when incumbent Public Transport Operators (PTOs) SBS Transit and SMRT Buses lack the resources to do so at that point of time.

With the introduction of the Bus Contracting Model (BCM), and adequate buses allocated to PTOs for the operation of these additional trips, PPSS routes were gradually transferred back to incumbent PTOs operating their parent bus service when the PPSS contracts expires, from 1 September 2016 to 20 January 2017. Some PPSS were offered contract extensions for several months.

When integrated with the incumbent PTOs routes, several PPSS routes remain as Short Trip Services, while others were replaced by additional trips on the parent services.

Gallery:

External Links:

• Peak hour Short Service route plans #1
• Peak hour Short Service route plans #2
• Peak hour Short Service route plans #3

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