Seletar Bus Depot: View from Lentor Avenue

Bus Contracting Model (BCM) Route Package #3:
“Seletar Bus Package” (27 bus routes)

First announced on 06 June 2016, the Seletar Bus Package is the third set of public bus services to be put up for tender under the Bus Contracting Model, following the Bulim Bus Package and Loyang Bus Package.

This package comprises 24 existing bus services originating from Yishun Bus Interchange, Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange, and Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange, with 2 new bus services to be introduced later, as at package announcement (The 2 new services are 71 & 807). It is one of fourteen bus packages to be released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) as part of the transition to the Bus Contracting Model (BCM).

In addition, new bus service 851e was introduced in May 2018, bringing the total number of bus services to 27.

As announced in April 2017, SBS Transit Ltd is the successful tenderer of the Seletar Bus Package, who will receive an estimated total fee of $480.3 million over five years. The 25 bus routes will be based out of the newly-built Seletar Bus Depot, located off Yio Chu Kang Road, which is scheduled to be completed in Q3 2017 and able to accommodate 525 buses.

The package will consist of 390 buses when implemented in the first half of 2018, and will grow to about 500 buses in 2023 in tandem with new developments and projected growth in ridership.

Seletar Bus Package Routes
Bus Interchange	Bus Routes	Operator Prior to Tendered Contract
Ang Mo Kio	24, 130, 133, 135, 138, 261, 262, 265, 268, 269	SBS Transit
Yio Chu Kang	70/70M, 71, 76, 162/162M	SBS Transit
Yishun	800, 803, 804, 805, 806, 807, 811, 812, 850E*, 851, 852, 860	SMRT Buses
–	851e	New Bus Service

* = Bus routes that do not originate from the Bus Interchange

Contract Details:

Name	PT202: Bus Contracting – Seletar Bus Package
Awarded	SBS Transit Ltd
Duration	Five years, with two-year extension granted based on good performance
Key Dates	Published – 06 Jun 2016 Closed – 27 Oct 2016 Awarded – 19 April 2017
Commenced Operations	11 Mar 2018 (Tranche 1) – 14 bus routes 18 Mar 2018 (Tranche 2) – 6 bus routes 25 Mar 2018 (Tranche 3) – 6 bus routes 27 May 2018 – Service 851e
Scope
Services	24, 70/M, 71, 76, 130, 133, 135, 138, 162/M, 261, 262, 265, 268, 269, 800, 803, 804, 805, 806, 807, 811, 812, 850E, 851, 851e, 852 & 860
Bus Depot	Seletar Bus Depot
Bus Interchanges	Yio Chu Kang, Ang Mo Kio

Bidding Procedure

As of the tender closing time, 9 bids were submitted from hopeful operators. All operators were shortlisted on 02 Mar 2017.

S/No	Country	Tenderer	Price for 5 Years Amount (S$)
1.	Australia	Busways Group Pty Ltd	581,832,861.00
2.	China / Local	Jiaoyun Group / Travel GSH Pte Ltd Consortium	547,589,363.52
3.	United Kingdom	National Express Group Plc	536,828,068.00
4.	Local	SBS Transit Ltd	480,332,472.00
5.	Local	SMRT Buses Ltd	514,522,355.00
6.	Local	The Go-Ahead Group Plc	576,341,755.00
7.	Local / South Korea	Tian San Shipping (Private) Limited / Kumho Buslines Co., Ltd Consortium	538,837,888.23
8.	Local	Tower Transit Singapore Pte. Ltd.	575,797,622.00 571,139,871.00 (Alternative)
9.	Local	Woodlands Transport Holdings Pte. Ltd	583,442,331.19

Contract Awarded:

On Wednesday, 19 April 2017, LTA announced SBS Transit Ltd as the winner of the Seletar Bus Package. Evaluation was conducted through a two-envelope process which included quality and price factors, with greater weightage given to the quality proposals submitted by tenderers. The LTA press release sums it well:

SBS Transit (SBST) was awarded the contract as it had the highest combined total score for both quality and price evaluation. In its tender submission, SBST demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of ground conditions and strong competence in bus service scheduling to enable the optimal deployment of buses and resources to meet travel demand. Furthermore, SBST has emphasised in its proposal a stringent maintenance regime for bus assets and infrastructure and committed to a significant number of experienced technicians to ensure high maintenance and reliability standards. In terms of manpower development, SBST has presented a robust career development program to up-skill its staff, and a comprehensive transition plan to minimise impact to commuters and affected bus workers.

To ensure a smooth transition with minimal inconvenience to commuters, the implementation of the remaining 13 bus services currently not operated by SBS Transit will be carried out upon implementation in the first quarter of 2018. These services will be supported by the new Seletar Bus Depot located off Lentor Ave / Yio Chu Kang Rd, which will be officially handed over to SBS Transit in August 2017 to allow them sufficient time to recruit and train bus captains and technicians. SBS Transit has been performing overnight parking of buses at Sungei Seletar Bus Depot‘s Bus Park since December 2016.

Additional Initiatives:

SBS Transit introduced a telematics system, known as SAGE, on all 730 buses under the Seletar and Bukit Merah Bus Packages to monitor the smoothness and comfort of bus rides provided by Bus Captains (BCs). The system records and monitors the BC’s driving behaviour such as speeding and harsh acceleration with feedback given in real-time through audio and visual alerts. This system is aimed at improving the safety of buses. Besides SAGE, these buses are also equipped with the Mobileye collision alert system.

Bus Services:

Seletar Bus Package consists of 26 existing bus services, with 1 new bus service added during the contract period.

Service	Destination 1	Destination 2	Type	Description
24	Ang Mo Kio	↺ Changi Airport	Trunk
70	Yio Chu Kang	Shenton Way	Trunk
70M	Yio Chu Kang	↺ Temasek Ave	Trunk	Supplementary route
71	Yio Chu Kang	↺ Bishan St 11	Trunk
76	Yio Chu Kang	Eunos	Trunk
130	Ang Mo Kio	Shenton Way	Trunk
133	Ang Mo Kio	Shenton Way	Trunk
135	Ang Mo Kio	↺ Siglap Link	Trunk
138	Ang Mo Kio	↺ Mandai Lake Rd	Trunk
162	Yio Chu Kang	Shenton Way	Trunk
162M	Yio Chu Kang	↺ Temasek Ave	Trunk	Supplementary route
261	Ang Mo Kio	↺ Ang Mo Kio Ind Park 1	Feeder
262	Ang Mo Kio	↺ Ang Mo Kio Ave 2	Feeder
265	Ang Mo Kio Depot	↺ Ang Mo Kio Ave 10	Townlink
268	Ang Mo Kio Depot	↺ Ang Mo Kio Ind Pk 2	Townlink
269	Ang Mo Kio	↺ Ang Mo Kio St 61	Feeder
800	Yishun	↺ Sembawang Rd	Feeder
803	Yishun	↺ Yishun Ave 6	Feeder
804	Yishun	↺ Yishun Ave 11	Feeder
805	Yishun	↺ Yishun Ave 1	Feeder
806	Yishun	↺ Yishun Ave 6	Feeder
807	Yishun	↺ Yishun St 71	Feeder
811	Yishun	↺ Yishun Avenue 2 & 1	Townlink
812	Yishun	↺ Yishun Avenue 4 & 3	Townlink
850E	Yishun St 41 / Ave 6	Shenton Way / Anson Rd	Express	Peak Hour Limited-stop
851	Yishun	Bt Merah	Trunk
851e	Yishun	New Bridge Road	Express
852	Yishun	Bt Batok	Trunk
860	Yishun	↺ Yio Chu Kang	Trunk

Bus Services 70M & 162M are considered part of their parent route, 70 & 162 respectively. They do not contribute towards the total service count. Short Trip Services, which are also part of tender requirements, are not included in the above list.

Transition Dates:

To ensure a smooth transition with minimal inconvenience to commuters, the Seletar package under the Bus Contracting model was implemented in three tranches in March 2018. Spaced a week apart for Tranche 2 and 3, the two tranches would hand SBS Transit progressive control over the Yishun Bus Services which are part of the Seletar Bus Package.

The implementation dates of the combined three tranches are as follows:

Tranche	Implementation Date	Bus Services	No of Routes
1	11 March 2018	24, 70/M, 71, 76, 130, 133, 135, 138, 162/M, 261, 262, 265, 268 & 269	14
2	18 March 2018	800, 804, 805, 807, 811 & 860	6
3	25 March 2018	803, 806, 812, 850E, 851 & 852	6
–	27 May 2018	851e	1
			Total: 27

Main Article: Transitioning to Seletar Bus Package

Scope of Tender:

As part of the tender, the new Operator will be required to fulfil responsibilities as such:

Operate the twenty-seven (27) bus services in the Yishun, Yio Chu Kang and Ang Mo Kio areas in accordance with specified EWT performance standards
Operate and maintain the buses and their onboard equipment provided by LTA
Operate and maintain Yio Chu Kang and Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchanges, and the new Seletar Bus Depot, including all equipment and systems provided therein
Charge and collect the fares approved by the Public Transport Council, on behalf of the Government
Provide bus service information at all bus stops and bus interchanges served by the 27 bus services
Provide customer management services, such as lost and found service, and a hotline for commuter feedback and enquiries.

All bus services will have scheduled headways of no more than 15 minutes for both directions during the morning and evening peak periods, with at least half of them having even shorter scheduled headways of no more than 10 minutes. Of these, the feeder services will run at even shorter intervals of 6-8 minutes. An estimated 45% of bus services will come at shorter intervals during peak periods when compared to the expanded BSEP.

More guidelines can be found in the main Bus Contracting Model (BCM) article.

Bus Interchanges & Terminals under the package:

Bus Depot under the package:

Seletar Bus Depot

Tender Deadline Extension

On 26 September 2016, with less than 2 weeks to the tender closing date, the Land Transport Authority announced that the tender submission deadline was extended by 3 weeks to 27 Oct 2016. This is likely due to the recent events that happened to the awardee of the Loyang Bus Package, Go-Ahead Singapore.

In September 2016 alone, less than a month after taking over bus routes from SBS Transit under the Loyang Bus Package, the operator has borrowed Bus Captains from SBS Transit & SMRT as well as subcontracting their Employee Bus Routes out to Tower Transit as a result of a spade of Go-Ahead Bus Captains resigning due to Go-Ahead’s cost-saving extensive interlining model. The extended deadline is expected to give more time to bidders to tweak their proposals on bus interlining.

In a statement to ChannelNewsAsia on 27 October 2016, the Land Transport Authority clarified that the extension of tender submission deadline was due to a change in tender specifications, where the winning tenderer of the Seletar Bus Packages will take over the 26 Bus Routes in five (5) tranches, instead of the earlier specified two tranches. While this was not mentioned in any print and online media on ChannelNewsAsia, the statement was mentioned on ChannelNewsAsia’s Singapore Tonight on 27 October 2016, at about 5:00min. (Link to video on Toggle.sg)

Route Package Timeline:

2016 (06 Jun): Seletar Route Package announced & opens. Tender closes on 06 Oct 2016, 1200hrs
2016 (26 Sep): Tender deadline extended to 27 Oct 2016, 1200hrs.
2016 (27 Oct): Tender closed with 9 bids received
2017 (02 Mar): All 9 bids shortlisted
2017 (19 Apr): SBS Transit Ltd announced as winning tenderer
2018 (11 Mar): First tranche of operations rollout
2018 (18 Mar): Second tranche of operations rollout
2018 (25 Mar): Third tranche of operations rollout
2018 (27 May): Launch of New Bus Service 851e

External Links & References:

Back to Bus Contracting Model