SMRT Bus Service 181 is a trunk route connecting residents of Jurong West Neighbourhoods 7, 8, and Wenya Estate to Boon Lay Interchange.
↺ Jurong West Ave 3 (Loop)
| Route Overview | ||||||||||||
Route  |
Boon Lay Bus Interchange ↺ Jurong West Avenue 3 (Loop) |
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| Passes Through | Jurong West St 64, Jurong West St 75 | |||||||||||
| Route Length | 6.5 km | |||||||||||
| Travelling Time | 21 – 35 mins | |||||||||||
| Operator Information | ||||||||||||
| BCM Route Package | Jurong West Bus Package | |||||||||||
| Current Operator | SMRT Buses Ltd |
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| Current Depot | Soon Lee Bus Depot | |||||||||||
| Current Fleet | Double-deck buses | |||||||||||
| Operating Hours | ||||||||||||
| Departure Times from Boon Lay |
School Term Weekdays |
Daily (except School Term Weekdays) | ||||||||||
| 06:00 – 06:24 & 07:51 – 00:40 |
06:00 – 00:40 | |||||||||||
| Service 181 does not operate when Service 181M is in operation. |
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| Operating Frequency | ||||||||||||
| Loop Service | 6.30am–8.30am | 8.31am–4.59pm | 5.00pm–7.00pm | After 7.00pm | ||||||||
| Weekdays | 6 – 7 mins | 6 – 10 mins | 7 – 8 mins | 7 – 10 mins | ||||||||
| Saturdays | 12 – 14 mins | 10 – 13 mins | 10 – 11 mins | 11 – 13 mins | ||||||||
| Sundays / Public Holidays | 15 – 20 mins | 13 – 15 mins | 13 – 14 mins | 13 – 15 mins | ||||||||
| Fare Information |
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| Fare | Charges regular distance fares |
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Bus Service 181 is a trunk service that connects residents of Jurong West Neighbourhoods 7, 8, and Wenya Estate (Neighbourhood 2) to Boon Lay MRT/Bus Interchange. The route travels along Jurong West Street 64 and 75, then Jurong West Avenue 5 and 3, where it makes a U-turn at the end before returning to Boon Lay.
Although it operates entirely within the Jurong West area, Service 181 is classified as a trunk service rather than a feeder service, for reasons that remain unclear. Since its introduction in 2005, no route extensions beyond Jurong West Avenue 3 have been made.
On school term weekday mornings, from 6:30 am to 7:45 am, Service 181 is replaced by its route variant, Service 181M, which loops at Jurong West Street 23. This variant provides access to Corporation Primary School, which is otherwise only served by Bus Service 185. During this time, Service 181 does not operate while Service 181M is in service.
On the eve of public holidays, operating hours will be extended to align with the extended train service hours. Extended last bus timings will be provided by the operator closer to the affected day.
Future Plans:
Service 181 is planned to be extended to Tengah as part of the Land Transport Authority’s Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme (BCEP).
Schools & Community amenities served:
- Jurong Medical Centre / The Frontier Community Club
- Boon Lay Secondary School
- Westwood Primary School
- Gek Poh Shopping Centre
- Gek Poh Ville Community Club
- Jalan Bahar Park
MRT Station Served
- EW27 Boon Lay
Special Departures
- Jurong West Avenue 3 (Blk 276B) → Boon Lay Int
Weekdays: 05:13, 05:21, 05:29, 05:37, 05:45, 05:53, 06:01 & 06:09
Saturdays: 05:30, 05:45 & 06:00
Sundays / Public Holidays: 05:30, 05:45 & 05:59
Route Variant
- Service 181M: Boon Lay Int ↺ Jurong West Street 23 (Loop)
School Term Weekdays: 06:30 – 07:45
Bus Service 181M operates during school term weekdays, plying an extended route to Jurong West Street 23.
Gallery:
Poster Gallery:
Operator History:
- 9 Jan 2005 – 31 Aug 2024: SBS Transit Ltd
- 1 Sep 2024 – Present: SMRT Buses Ltd
Route History:
- 2005 (09 Jan): Introduced between Boon Lay Int and Jurong West Ave 3 (Loop)
- 2006 (18 Jun): Amended to Boon Lay Temp Int
- 2008: Last bus extended to 0030 hrs daily
- 2008 (15 Jun): Serves new pair of bus stops outside Blk 670A and outside Blk 678D along Jurong West St 64
- 2009 (27 Dec): Amended to Boon Lay Integrated Transport Hub
- 2010 (18 Oct): Designated wheelchair-accessible bus route (WAB)
- 2013: Last bus extended to 0040 hrs daily
- 2024 (01 Sep): Operations transferred to SMRT Buses under the Jurong West Bus Package
- 2025 (07 Dec): Amended to ply Jurong West St 73 & Jurong West St 72 with the partial closure of Jurong West St 75 to facilitate the construction of Gek Poh MRT station on the Jurong Region Line.
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Continued on Page 2 – Gallery
- Gallery (SBS Transit)
Hi everyone. I have just seen the actual situation on the ground. Jurong West Avenue 2 is not connected to the Tengah Way that is next to it. If you look at the URA Master Plan at URA space, it is also like that.
If we want Jurong West Avenue 2 to connect to Tengah Way, modification works is required. Yet, no sign of modification works (which means there is no plan for the connection). And yet, they say 181 going to extend to Tengah. The only possibility is via the PIE slip road to Tengah Boulevard, which means 181 will likely loop via Bukit Batok Road and return to Boon Lay Int via PIE, Jurong West Avenue 2 and its current route.
If the 181 extension runs along the school cluster at Tengah Garden Avenue, then this extension is to enable this year’s Pioneer Primary School primary six students (who live in Jurong West) to have a nearer bus route to go to school (but only this year required). It may also signal that a secondary school in Jurong West may be moving over (probably not Westwood Secondary, cuz Westwood Secondary got students staying at Choa Chu Kang. Probably Boon Lay Secondary School students instead, since that school is along 181 bus route).
Honestly, I rather they start a new school instead of relocating. If 181 extension is just to serve the last batch of Pioneer Primary students staying at Jurong West, it is very short-term minded.
To maximise coverage, and since 181 will probably loop around Tengah and then return back to Boon Lay Int, since there’s no two-way connection between Tengah roads and Jurong West Avenue 2, hopefully 181 can loop one big round around Tengah, via Tengah Boulevard (which covers many many Tengah BTOs), Tengah Park Avenue (which has Parc Point Shopping Mall opposite) and Bukit Batok Road.
Sorry, maybe you don’t know, there’s a similar case nearby: bus 49, when connecting AYE to Yuan Ching Road, one direction also go all the way till the expressway traffic junction and then turn back in the opposite direction to connect to the road.
181 would probably be like that.
As to why delay, it’s probably because they are still planning the route. That’s all.
I’m one of those, as with several neighbours around Tengah who still have kids in other primary schools across Jurong West St 72 and St 60s. Most of us didn’t change schools because of various reasons, including Pioneer @Tengah does not take P3 to P5, and other schools are not exactly that near if we live further in e.g. Tengah Garden Walk etc. The public bus journey is currently >45min. Some of us have elderly parents in this area of Jurong.. So we are all looking forward to 181 extension (just spoke with a neighbour yesterday about 181 potentially aiding our kids school commute to St 72). Albeit it’s not a large number of us combined, I suppose we are part of the ground situation as well, on top of Pioneer Pri 6 and other secondary school students. We are also part of a small group who voiced out thru our Jurong West RCs about the connectivity before JRL starts. Hope 181 complements JRL by increasing the connection to the stations as well, expecting route changes.
Sorry, but, best solution is school bus, whereby morning 6:30am or earlier take the bus, and afternoon around 3pm reach home. Although, this would not cover holiday period, and PSLE exam period. But pretty sure can customize the school bus schedules to accommodate this primary 6 cohort who all live in Jurong West and all need to travel to Tengah.
Ya, I was from Pioneer Primary from 2003 to 2008, that time Pioneer Primary temporarily relocated to Jurong West Avenue 1 and Jurong Canal Road intersection in 2007 and 2008, several bus stops in Jurong West Gek Poh area became boarding and alighting points. Pretty sure the Pioneer Primary in 2026 can have that. If need be, the records back in 2007 and 2008 are probably still in Pioneer Primary’s archives.
If I remember correctly, Jurong West Avenue 3 was originally planned to extend all the way to meet with Corporation Road. Can check with the street directory maps at that time.
Thus, the original plan for bus 181 could well be to extend it to Jurong West Avenue 1, and towards Lakeside MRT station to connect Wenya/Bulim area to Lakeside MRT station. That route in Jurong West Avenue 1 area could well be today’s bus 49, which was introduced in 2014. Bus 181 was introduced in 2005.
It was because of the original plan to extend bus 181 further, which would make bus 181 into at least 10-20km route length, that’s why bus 181 has always been categorised as trunk.
Anyway, bus 181 at 6.5km currently is too short for a trunk. Take for example bus 99 and bus 185, it should be around 16km. And somemore now is looping service, which means effectively only 3.25km of single-direction route. If it becomes a two-directions service, it will extend by about 13km, which is quite long.
The route from Jurong West Avenue 3 to Tengah Bus Interchange is just around 4.7km. Which will make bus 181 single-direction to be 7.9km, which is still too short for two-directions service. Because of this reason, if bus 181 will only extend to Tengah, it will likely remain a loop service that has a total length of about 16km.
In other words, if bus 181 only extends to Tengah, it will still be too short to be two-directions trunk bus service, but long enough to be a looping trunk bus service.
Considering Tengah bus services has been all operated by Tower Transit so far, when 181 extends to Tengah, there’s actually a possibility that 181 may be transferred to Bulim package and become operated by Tower Transit.
Unless, LTA finally allows another operator in Tengah. Then 181 will be SMRT’s first bus service in Tengah, while 181 remains in Jurong West Package.
Second option more likely
CNA says this bus service will be extended to tengah in the coming months.
Honestly, the reason why 181 is categorised as a trunk since day 1 in 2005, is probably because it doesnt directly connect to Boon Lay MRT station, and it was originally supposed to extend somemore into Jurong West Street 25 area (also known as “Wenya” or “Bulim” area).
The Wenya/Bulim area was originally planned to be entirely residential, and Jurong West Avenue 3 was originally planned to extend somemore such that it becomes long enough to become a separate Avenue from Jurong West Avenue 5 where it extends from.
Although now bus 181 is only 6.5km, the original plan for bus 181 was probably to extend in tandem with Jurong West Avenue 3 further extension (which did not materialise), and probably take the present-day bus 49 route to connect to Lakeside MRT station and Jurong East Bus Interchange, therefore becoming long enough to justify the trunk bus category.
Nonetheless, the plan for Wenya/Bulim area changed. That was why bus 181 remained like that.
And now the plan to extend bus 181 into Tengah, is a new plan, and it is in tandem with Tengah development, since 181 current ending point is near to Tengah. That’s why conveniently extend 181 to Tengah, which would also help to connect Jurong West to Tengah via bus.
So with that, this is probably the history of 181.
181’s upcoming confirmed extension to Tengah will finally make 181 long enough to justify it being categorised as a trunk bus service.
What bout 967 any plan to extend?