Premium Bus Service 531 is a Premium service operated by Ng Ing Tsair Bus Service between Simei Road and Shenton Way. The route passes through Simpang Bedok, Upper East Coast, East Coast Parkway (express sector), Suntec City and Fullerton, operating a city-bound trip in the morning and a return trip in the evening.
| Route Overview |
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| Route |
[AM] Simei Road (Melville Pk) → Shenton Way (Opp MAS Bldg) [PM] Anson Road (Hub Synergy Pt) → Simei Road (Metta Welfare Assn) |
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| Passes Through | Simpang Bedok, Upper East Coast, ECP, Suntec City, Fullerton | |
| Travelling Time | 53 mins (AM) | 55 mins (PM) | |
| Operator Information | ||
| Current Operator | Ng Ing Tsair Bus Service | |
| Departure Times from Simei Rd |
0755hrs (Weekdays, except Public Holidays) | |
| Departure Times from Anson Rd |
1815hrs (Weekdays, except Public Holidays) | |
| Fare | EZ Link / NETS Flashpay Card: $5.50Â |Â Â Cash: $7.00 Transfer rebates & concessionary travel are not applicable. |
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Premium 531 serves housing board estates, private estates and condominiums around Simei and Upper East Coast with connections to Suntec City, Marina Centre and Shenton Way, eliminating the hassle of transferring between different modes of transport. At the same time, SBS Transit’s Express 10e also offers peak hour connections between Upper East Coast and Shenton Way at a cheaper price, but takes a longer journey by not plying along expressways.
Since its introduction in 2007, Premium 531 has experienced considerably high demand from the niche market, mostly from the private housing areas around Upper East Coast, where 531 is a the fastest bus route to the CBD despite its high fares. High capacity articulated buses were deployed on this service duing its initial days of service, when there were just 2 morning departures and buses were filled to the brim (despite the Premium no-standing regulation back then), and some buses (e.g. TIB1081S) were re-tuned for better climbing of Benjamin Sheares Bridge. Articulated buses were eventually removed when more weekday peak hour trips were added.
Originally operating with 2 morning and 2 evening trips, Premium 531 operated with 6 morning and 3 evening trips at its peak under SMRT, making it among the most successful Premium routes around. Most trips were fully seated.
Transfer of Operator to Commute Solutions
Under Commute Solutions, the cash fare for Premium 531 was raised from $5.50 to $6.00. EZ-Link fares remain at $5.50.
AM Departures were reduced from 6 AM trips to 5 AM trips, while PM Departures were also reduced from 3 PM trips to 2 PM trips.
AM Departures were re-timed and reduced to 4 trips between 0740 to 0805hrs after the takeover by Commute Solutions.
Subsequently, from 1 April 2020, the 2 morning trips at 0740hrs & 0755hrs were reduced to only 1 trip at 0750hrs.
Cash fares were increased to $7.00 from 03 Jan 2017.
More Trips were subsequently reduced.
Commuters may also pre-book passes from the ShareTransport App.
Departure Timings
Weekdays, except Public Holidays
- AM Peak from Simei Rd (Melville Park): 07:55
- PM Peak from Anson Rd (Hub Synergy Point): 18:15
Fare:
- EZ Link / NETS Flashpay Card: $5.50
- Cash: $7.00
Gallery
Operator History
- 30 Jul 2007 – 26 Aug 2016: SMRT Buses Ltd
- 29 Aug 2016 – 2021: Commute Solutions Group Pte Ltd
- 2021 – Present: Ng Ing Tsair Bus Service
History
- 2007 (30 Jul): Introduced as a Premium Service from Simei Road → Shenton Way. Operates two trips in the morning at 0755hrs and 0803hrs, and charges a flat fare of $3.00
- 2007 (03 Oct): Third morning trip added. Departure times amended to 0750hrs – 0805hrs with buses departing at 7/8-minute intervals.
- 2008 (Jun): Two evening peak trips introduced at 1810hrs and 1825hrs. Fare increased to $4.00
- 2009 (01 Apr): Fare lowered to $3.80
- 2009 (06 Apr): Fourth morning trip and third evening trip added at 0745hrs and 1840hrs respectively
- ???: Firth morning trip added
- 2009 (05 Oct): Sixth morning trip added at 0810hrs
- 2010 (01 Apr): Original fare of $4.00 reinstated
- Late 2011: Fare revision to $5.00
- 2014 (04 Aug): Fare revision to $5.50
- 2016 (29 Aug): Operations transferred to Commute Solutions Group Pte Ltd.
- 2017 (03 Jan): Cash fare revision to $7.00 from $6.50
- ?: Trip re-timing and reduction to 4 AM trips
- ?: Trip reduction to 3 AM Trips & 1 PM trip
- ?: Trip reduction to 2 AM Trips & 1 PM trip
- 2020 (1 Apr): Trip reduction to 1 AM Trip & 1 PM trip
- 2021: Operations officially transferred from Commute Solutions to Ng Ing Tsair Bus Service
External Links & References:
- Premium Bus Services Update from 1st July 2022 – Commute Solutions
- Commute Solutions – Premium Bus Routes
- Premium Bus Services Update from 4th January 2021 – Commute Solutions
- Bus Services – LTA
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The 531 bus service, ever since they changed to the private company it has been very irregular in it’s timing. The evening bus usually arrives around 6:25 pm at the Fullerton hotel, whereas with SMRT by 6:25 pm we already had the 3rd bus come in. This morning at the Opp. Man Fatt Lam temple stop the first bus arrived at 8:17 am after a 15 plus minute wait time.
Not at all happy with the change and as a regular commuter feel that this change is impacting the efficiency of the bus service.
Best,
Pallavi
Hi
Good morning.
Just to bring to your notice that the premium bus does not arrive at the scheduled time.Many people at our condo (Costa del sol)have been missingredients the bus service as it does not arrive at 7.49 and 7.59 am.
Kindly look into the matter as we are getting late to office due to this reason.
Hope this concern would be resolved
Regards
Commuter.
Service is not nearly as premium as when run by SMRT. Buses are not so frequent in the morning, and are not designed for commuter routes. Only one door, limited headroom , much slower for passengers to enter or exit. SMRT buses were new, the replacements are older and seats are wearing out. New buses have multiple color schemes and no markings, so you have to try to read the plastic signs taped to the Windscreen to see if this is actually your bus or just a private bus driving slowly.
Paul (Simei)
Very rude bus driver. When asked question as a lot of commuters are still unsure about the change, driver gets frustrated and replied in a really rude manner which is uncalled for.
Changing does not mean improving. Drivers from Smrt is much more polite and genuine. That’s what makes a morning good.
Day one of Commute solutions operation of the 531 resulted in a 17 minute wait instead of 4 minutes. Boarding the coach takes longer which means that the coach does not get to the ECP until later when there is more traffic resulting in a much longer commute.
Not impressed with the change as it is definitely a degradation of service.
Regards
Jonathan Woodward
Agreed – service standard has fallen through the floor. Irregular and sometimes doesn’t turn up. Please change back ownership.