SMRT Bus Service 961M 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, Marina Centre, Beach Road and Kallang Bahru. It plies Raffles Boulevard and Raffles Avenue in both directions.
Service 961M operates only on Sundays and Public Holidays as an extended route of Service 961, serving the Marina Centre area additionally.
961M
Note
- Bus Service 961M towards Lor 1 Geylang Ter & Woodlands Temp Int duplicates along Raffles Blvd & Raffles Ave.
Check the bus destination before boarding.
| 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, Raffles Ave, Beach Rd | |||||||||||
| Route Length | Towards Lor 1 Geylang: 38.3 km |
Towards Woodlands: 37.2 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 Int |
Sundays / Public Holidays |
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| 05:50 – 23:30 | ||||||||||||
| Departure Times from Lor 1 Geylang |
Sundays / 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 Int |
12 – 14 mins | 10 – 12 mins | 11 – 14 mins | 14 – 15 mins | ||||||||
| From Lor 1 Geylang |
14 mins | 8 – 13 mins | 13 – 14 mins | 14 – 16 mins | ||||||||
| Fare Information |
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| Fare | Charges regular distance fares |
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Service 961M 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, Marina Centre and Beach Road. As a route variant of Service 961, Service 961M only operates on Sundays and Public Holidays, and serves Marina Centre in both directions.
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
- CC4DT15 Promenade
- DT23 Bendemeer
- EW10 Kallang
Route Variant
- Service 961: Woodlands Temp Int ↔ Lor 1 Geylang Ter
Weekdays & Saturdays only, except Public Holidays
Gallery:
Poster Gallery:
Operator History:
- 2019 – Present: SMRT Buses Ltd
The Bus Service Operating License (BSOL) for this route will be renewed in 2026 under the Woodlands Bus Package.
History:
Service 961#
- 1998 (27 Dec): Re-numbered from Service 181# between Woodlands Reg Int and Lor 1 Geylang Ter via Marina Centre, operating on Sundays and Public Holidays 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
- 2019 (08 Sep): Service 961# renumbered to Service 961M
Service 961M
- 2019 (08 Sep): Service 961# renumbered to Service 961M
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Whats the point of this when you can just extend regular 961 to marina centre area and withdraw this service
More like shortening
Going to Kallang, even without the Marina Centre loop, takes considerably longer than terminating at Marina Centre
Frequency of up to 25mins during PM Off-peak. No longer up to 16mins.
Next will be 170M from 170X
700A>700M
BPS1 should be renumbered as 928.
AC7 should be awarded to SMRT as 870.
Only Tampines package doesn’t have any M variant
BPS1 is already replaced by SMRT 976.
While service 870 is already operated by Tower Transit Singapore under the Bulim Bus Package and service 700A had already been withdrawn since August 2020.
r/agedlikemilk
170X didn’t become M
700 and 700A were both unalived
976 got introduced, which led to BPS1 getting unalived
AC7 is still private
870 exists, but it serves Tengah and is operated by Tower Transit
The last one is true tho (at least for now)
Where did you get the info from? There has been no press release or posts of 925M/961M posters made by SMRT/LTA so far. Please provide the source of the posters thank you.
It’s announced when 853M was renumbered prior to Yishun Interchange opening back then.