SMRT Bus Service 961 is a trunk route between Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange and Lorong 1 Geylang Terminal, passing through Woodlands Road, Upper Bukit Timah, Bukit Merah, Chinatown, City Hall, Beach Road and Kallang Bahru.
On Sundays and Public Holidays, Service 961M plies an alternative route serving Marina Centre in both directions.
961
| Route Overview | ||||||||||||
Route  |
Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange ↔ Lorong 1 Geylang Bus Terminal | |||||||||||
| Passes Through | Woodlands Ave 3, Woodlands Rd, Upp Bukit Timah Rd, Dunearn Rd / Bukit Timah Rd, Farrer Rd, Queensway, Jln Bukit Merah, Eu Tong Sen St / New Bridge Rd, Beach Rd | |||||||||||
| Route Length | Towards Lor 1 Geylang: 35.7 km |
Towards Woodlands: 35.4 km |
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| Travelling Time | 110 mins | |||||||||||
| Operator Information | ||||||||||||
| BCM Route Package | Woodlands Bus Package | |||||||||||
| Current Operator | SMRT Buses Ltd | |||||||||||
| Current Depot | Woodlands Bus Depot (WLDEP) Seletar Bus Depot (SEDEP) |
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| Current Fleet | Single-deck & Double-deck buses | |||||||||||
| Operating Hours | ||||||||||||
| Departure Times from Woodlands (Temp Bus Int) |
Weekdays & Saturdays (except Public Holidays) |
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| 05:30 – 23:30 | ||||||||||||
| Departure Times from Lor 1 Geylang |
Weekdays & Saturdays (except Public Holidays) | |||||||||||
| 06:00 – 23:30 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Frequency | ||||||||||||
| 6:30am–8.30am | 8.31am–4.59pm | 5.00pm–7.00pm | After 7.00pm | |||||||||
| From Woodlands (Temp Bus Int) |
7 – 11 mins | 7 – 15 mins | 11 – 15 mins | 12 – 15 mins | ||||||||
| From Lor 1 Geylang |
11 – 13 mins | 8 – 13 mins | 8 – 12 mins | 11 – 16 mins | ||||||||
| Fare Information |
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| Fare | Charges regular distance fares |
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Service 961 is a lengthy inter-town route connecting the housing estates of Woodlands, Bukit Panjang, Farrer and Bukit Merah, with the suburban areas of Upper Bukit Timah, Bukit Timah and Bendemeer, and with the City areas of Chinatown, Clarke Quay, City Hall and Beach Road. Much of its demand comes from shuttling commuters between various points of its long route, and is a notably popular connection between the Bukit Merah and Bukit Timah areas.
On Sundays and Public Holidays, Service 961M operates with an alternative route serving the Marina Centre area in both directions, on Raffles Boulevard and Raffles Avenue.
MRT/LRT Stations Served:
- NS9TE2 Woodlands
- NS8 Marsiling
- NS7 Kranji
- DT1–BP6 Bukit Panjang
- DT2 Cashew
- DT3 Hillview
- DT5 Beauty World
- DT6 King Albert Park
- DT7 Sixth Avenue
- DT8 Tan Kah Kee
- CC20 Farrer Road
- EW16NE3TE17 Outram Park
- NE4DT19 Chinatown
- NE5 Clarke Quay
- EW13NS25 City Hall
- CC3 Esplanade
- DT23 Bendemeer
- EW10 Kallang
Special Departures
- Upp Cross St (Opp Hong Lim Cplx) → Woodlands Temp Int
Weekdays: 05:40, 05:53 & 06:06
Saturdays: 05:40, 05:51, 06:02 & 06:12
Route Variant
- Service 961M: Woodlands Temp Int ↔ Lorong 1 Geylang Ter, via Raffles Ave
Sundays / Public Holidays only
Gallery
Poster Gallery
Operator History:
- 1998 – 2004: Trans-Island Bus Services Ltd
- 2004 – Present: SMRT Buses Ltd
The Bus Service Operating License (BSOL) for this route will be renewed in 2026 under the Woodlands Bus Package.
History:
- 1998 (28 Dec): Re-numbered from Service 181 as a service between Woodlands Reg Int and Lor 1 Geylang Ter, operating on weekdays and Saturdays only
- 1999 (10 Jul): Amended to ply Parliament Pl, St. Andrew’s Rd and Beach Rd, skipping Hill St and Bras Basah Rd
- 1999 (26 Dec): Amended to ply Lavender St, Kallang Bahru and Boon Keng Rd under Bukit Panjang LRT Rationalisation, replacing the deleted sectors of Service 5
- 2002 (20 Apr): Amended to ply Upp Cross St and the reinstated New Bridge Rd, skipping South Bridge Rd, Neil Rd and Cantonment Rd
- 2004: Skips abolished bus stop outside Nanyang Pr Sch along Farrer Rd
- 2004 (27 Apr): Amended to ply Geylang Rd, Kallang Rd and Sims Ave towards Woodlands Reg Int with the temporary conversion of Lor 1 Geylang to a one-way road
- 2004 (06 Dec): Amended to ply the reinstated Lor 1 Geylang towards Woodlands Reg Int, skipping Geylang Rd, Kallang Rd and Sims Ave
- 2010 (23 May): Skips temporarily abolished bus stop outside Assumption Voc Inst along Upp Bt Timah Rd to facilitate the construction of Cashew MRT station along the Downtown MRT Line
- 2013 (29 Dec): Serves new bus stop outside Outram Pk Stn along New Bridge Rd
- 2014 (02 Mar): Designated wheelchair-accessible bus service (WAB)
- 2015 (01 Mar): Serves reinstated bus stop outside Assumption Pathway Sch along Upp Bt Timah Rd
- 2016 (12 Mar): Amended to Woodlands Temp Int
- 2016 (11 Dec): Serves new bus stop opposite Blk 635A along Woodlands Rd
- 2017 (28 May): Skips abolished bus stop opposite Mandai Rd along Woodlands Rd
- 2017 (26 Nov): Serves the bus stop after Hospital Dr along Eu Tong Sen St, skipping abolished bus stop before Hospital Dr along Kg Bahru Rd
- 2018 (10 Jun): Serves new bus stop before Yew Tee Flyover along Woodlands Rd
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Service 961/961M should ply Woodlands Avenue 2, SLE, Upper Thomson Road, Lornie Highway, Adam Road skipping Woodlands Road/Upper/Lower Bukit Timahs
and also 961/961M should shorten to Marina Centre while Service 960 extends to Shenton Way via City Hall MRT, Upper Pickering Street.
961/m should shorten to Marina Centre due to the long route that this route is plying
960/e should extend to Shenton Way for faster connectivity from Woodlands/Bukit Panjang to the southern part of the city
Service 961 got LOTS of demand taking between Kranji – Bukit Timah sector. Bare in mind that only 174 & 961 serves Bukit Timah to Farrer Road, or even worse. 961 is the ONLY service between Bukit Merah & Bukit Timah areas……..
Do understand that 961 also help to back 170 up between Kranji – Bukit Timah areas as 170 is often CONGESTED due to Causeway traffic conditions. Don’t say 170X as 170X might not help efficiently 100% also. Bukit Panjang residents especially do take 961 even for myself.
Amend to Upper Thomson Road, Lornie Highway, Adam Road? Oh please, there’s 855 and 855 is majority SD. Means the demand is either 1) not as high or 2) it’s useful but only beneficial to certain extent. Nevertheless, leave 961 routing alone as 961 demand is a perfect looking route. Yes off peak not much of demand but it depends on when/what time you take. And during peak hours, it can be crowded and go orange load. Sundays? There might be dorm workers going back to Kranji area.
961 want to shorten to Marina Centre in the future is fine, but there MUST be a replacement to Beach Road & Kallang side.
Move 960 to Shenton Way? Please, there’s already MRT serving them directly (even if some don’t want MRT). You know LTA remove 700, 971 and cut trips for 665 & 951E on two sides…. It’s very unlikely for 960 to go Shenton Way. Do understand 960 is horribly crowded and unreliable in terms of frequency sometimes, it’s very very terrible and worsen if Service 960 goes to Shenton Way.
For Bukit Panjang (like me), do understand that 960 is the ONLY bus service to go Marina Centre ever since 700/700A gets removed. So please just leave 960 route alone thanks.
And yes, morning peak hour (or maybe evening peak hour), people have to stand on SMRT Service 961 (like me). And also, 961 is the ONLY bus service retained along Jalan Anak Bukit from Woodlands/Upper Bukit Timah Road sector, which is partly the reason why got high demand. Wait till you try during peak hour or Sundays, then you will know.
I have been taking SMRT 961 very occasionally since 2018, and I know how SMRT 961 works.
Well I saw one Citaro on 961.
Majority park at Seletar Depot.
961 also serve yew tee residents. It’s an alternative as that’s the closest trunk route we can find. Yew tee is sg not Singapore stop keeping our town name away from this woodlands Rd or seriously u nt guru at all
961 is too far from Yew Tee……. Yes I know there’s 979 but then…………
Have been taking 961 since 2016. The frustration. 6 yrs on, too many times, if u missed a bus, u may have to wait up to 25 minutes for the next one.
Then, to add insult to injury, the following bus might just be 2 mins after. I waited at a bus stop serviced by 10 services and in that time, at least 20 buses would have come and left before 961 appear again. Do the sums!
Now 961 got 1 perm OC500LE and frequently gets Citaros cameo as well
Unfortunately OC500LE and Citaro doesn’t operate on 961 anymore. OC500LE are mostly serving KJDEP/AMDEP, but 961 is under WLDEP. Most of WLDEP buses are MAN A22/A95 and Volvo B9TL. MAN A24 is not counted as it’s Woodlands Feeders.