Tower Transit Bus Service 870 is a trunk service operating between Jurong Town Hall and Tengah, serving the new housing estates in Tengah along Plantation Crescent and Tengah Boulevard as well as existing housing estates in Bukit Batok West.
Service 870 serves a pair of new bus stops (Blk 306B & Blk 321) along Tengah Blvd from 10 Nov 2024.
| Route Overview | ||||||||||||
Route  |
Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange ↔ Tengah Bus Interchange | |||||||||||
| Passes Through | Jurong East Ctrl, Bt Batok Ave 1, Bt Batok West Ave 6, Bt Batok West Ave 3, Plantation Cres | |||||||||||
| Route Length | Towards Tengah: 6.3 km | Towards Jurong Town Hall: 6.6 km | ||||||||||
| Travelling Time | 30 mins | |||||||||||
| Operator Information | ||||||||||||
| BCM Route Package | Bulim Bus Package | |||||||||||
| Current Operator | Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd (Tower Transit Singapore) |
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| Current Depot | Bulim Bus Depot | |||||||||||
| Current Fleet | Single-deck & Double-deck buses | |||||||||||
| Operating Hours | ||||||||||||
| Departure Times from Jurong Town Hall |
Daily | |||||||||||
| 06:00 – 00:45 | ||||||||||||
| Departure Times from Tengah |
Daily | |||||||||||
| 06:00 – 23:30 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Frequency | ||||||||||||
| Weekdays | 6:30am–8.30am | 8.31am–4.59pm | 5.00pm–7.00pm | After 7.00pm | ||||||||
| From Jurong Town Hall | 10 – 13 mins | 12 – 13 mins | 10 mins | 10 – 15 mins | ||||||||
| From Tengah |
10 – 15 mins | 12 – 13 mins | 9 – 10 mins | 10 – 15 mins | ||||||||
| Fare Information |
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| Fare | Charges regular distance fares |
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Bus Service 870 serves new housing estates in Tengah as well as existing housing estates in Bukit Batok West with direct links to Jurong East, as well as other amenities along its route.
Introduced on Sunday, 26 November 2023, the route is one of the first few services to serve the new Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange at launch.
Initial Announcement
Plans for the introduction of Bus Service 870 first emerged in October 2023, as mentioned within LTA Travel Guides outlining transportation options for residents of HDB Plantation Village. The guide also highlighted several amenities that Service 870 will serve such as Bukit Batok Swimming Complex and Bukit Batok Blk 156 Market.
As a designated Transit Priority Corridor, Tengah Link was designated solely for buses from 27 December 2023 (as per signage along Tengah Link). In the interim period from 27 August 2023, other motorists can also use Tengah Link via the left-in-left-out entrance and exit to Bukit Batok Road.
An article from The Straits Times regarding the new bus service in Tengah based on the Facebook Post by Dr Amy Khor mentioned that Tower Transit would be operating this bus service.
December 2023 Extension
On 1 November 2023, the routing and launch date for Service 870 was revealed in a Facebook Post by local Member of Parliament Dr. Amy Khor.
In addition, the post also highlighted plans for the route extension of Service 870 in December 2023 to serve future Bus Stop 40391 along Tengah Boulevard for Plantation Village estate and a non-stop sector along Tengah Drive. This was later announced to take effect from 24 December 2023.
July 2024 Extension & Additional Bus Stops
With the completion of new roads and housing developments within Tengah New Town, Service 870 was extended to Tengah Bus Interchange in tandem with its opening on 21 July 2024. Short Trip Service 870A was also withdrawn on the same day.
After the extension, Service 870 was planned to serve the following bus stops along Tengah Blvd:
- Bus Stop 40451 – Blk 306B, Tengah Blvd
(served from 10 Nov 2024) - Bus Stop 40459 – Blk 321, Tengah Blvd
(served from 10 Nov 2024)
MRT Station Served
- EW24NS1 Jurong East
Gallery (Buses):
Poster & Misc Gallery
Operator History:
- 26 Nov 2023 – Present: Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd
The Bus Service Operating License (BSOL) for this route will be renewed in 2026 under the Bulim Bus Package.
Route History:
- 2023 (26 Nov): Introduced between Jurong Town Hall Int and Plantation Cres (Loop)
- 2023 (24 Dec): Extended to loop at Tengah Blvd via Tengah Dr and a section of Bukit Batok Rd
- 2024 (21 Jul): Extended to Tengah Int, skipping Tengah Dr and part of Bukit Batok Rd
- 2024 (10 Nov): Serves a pair of new bus stops outside Blk 306B & Blk 321 along Tengah Blvd
Tbh this could have been numbered as 104 or 994
number 870 probably coz of the nearest number 868E at BB west ave 6
Yes, i hope it does pass Toh Guan, IMM & Ng Teng Fong Hospital before ending at Jurong East MRT.
I think it is important to note that Tengah just opened to public in August 2023. The bus network in Tengah is still in sandbox mode (the bus routes in Tengah will be adjusted over time when more parts of Tengah are ready).
870 running along Bukit Batok Swimming Complex, but skipping Bukit Batok MRT station and Bukit Batok Polyclinic, actually means that it will run along Bukit Batok West Avenue 6.
The routing to Jurong East MRT station should be along the NSL alignment, with the connecting bus stop at Jurong Gateway Road.
The 870 bus stops in Tengah, and 870 not calling at Le Quest Mall, actually indicates the routing between Tengah and Bukit Batok West Avenue 6.
Why 87 series instead of 99 series…
990 – BB to JE
991 – BB to CCK
992 – BB to TG
993 – JE to BB
One possible explanation: 993 probably eventually will find its way to Bukit Batok Bus Interchange, when the new BTOs at Bukit Batok West Avenue 5 are ready.
99 series probably for new trunk bus services that have a terminal at Bukit Batok Bus Interchange, and the other terminal at a bus interchange that connects directly to a NSEWL station.
Whereas 87 series (by the way, 160 going to Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange), won’t connect directly to a NSEWL station.
The different numbering series is probably to facilitate wayfinding.
To be fair, the route should pass through Toh Guan Rd too, to link Tengah residents with Toh Guan / IMM / IBP and vice versa.
Based on the recent precedence (992 and 993), this new bus service could potentially be an extension and renumbering of the existing 941 bus route.
If that’s the case, they need to compensate the existing 941 bus route passengers with a comparable linkage with the NSEWL. Therefore, I believe the bus route would probably take the direct path along the NSL to travel between Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 and Jurong East MRT station (Jurong Gateway Road).
And of couse, if such a route amendment were to happen, bus 66 definitely can expect it to be amended to Bukit Batok Bus Interchange, with a brand new bus route taking over the deleted segment from Bukit Batok to Beauty World. Let’s see how this new bus service 870 will turn out.
Touching 941 is not possible, because 941 has dedicated passengers travelling between BB MRT and West Ave 6/8. If you’re expecting 941 to further extend to Jurong Town Hall, the routing would be VERY winding and therefore counter-intuitive for those travelling from Tengah to JE or vice versa — not to mention greater difficulty in maintaining feeder frequency. Cutting away 941’s link to BB MRT is absolutely not acceptable.
In fact 993 has a better chance of being routed towards Tengah; the only issue is the stupid one-way turning at the end of BB West Ave 8. (And no, 993 won’t go to BB Int, there’s already 941/991/992 that cover the link to BB Int well enough.) If 870 is a separate service, then it also mustn’t significantly duplicate any of the services 66, 160, 176, 188, 992 and 993.
Lastly, if 870 doesn’t go to Toh Guan, then we could probably expect a new or amended service (perhaps 105) to link Toh Guan with Tengah.
I thought 870 is better suit for SBW/YIS…
I’d rather have a more direct reorganization: move the SBW services to a more suitable range.
Thus 980 -> 164; 981 -> 831; 882 -> 832; 883/M -> 833/M; 825 -> 861.
Easily freeing up a continuous 88x and 89x for Tengah & other west side services.
LTA sort of does bus numbering by area rn, but given how sporadic our bus routes are in general (19x and 12x, etc.) I don’t think they care *too* much about it.