SMRT Bus Service 965 is a trunk route from Woodlands Temporary Interchange and looping at Sengkang Interchange, passing through Admiralty, Gambas Avenue, Yishun, Khatib, SLE, TPE and Compassvale. It is one of several routes plying express along the TPE/SLE corridor.
Route Overview | ||||||||||||
Route ![]() |
Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange ↺ Sengkang Bus Interchange (Loop) | |||||||||||
Passes Through | Woodlands Ave 7, Gambas Ave, Yishun Ave 2, Compassvale St | |||||||||||
Route Length | 42.5 km | |||||||||||
Traveling Time | 100 mins | |||||||||||
Operator Information | ||||||||||||
BCM Route Package | Sembawang–Yishun Bus Package | |||||||||||
Current Operator | SMRT Buses Ltd | |||||||||||
Current Depot | Ang Mo Kio Bus Depot (AMDEP) Buses park at: Woodlands Bus Park (WLBP) |
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Current Fleet | 12-metre Single Deck Bus – MAN A22 – Mercedes-Benz Citaro |
12-metre Double Deck Bus – Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 – MAN A95 |
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Operating Hours | ||||||||||||
Departure Times from Woodlands |
Weekdays & Saturdays | Sundays / Public Holidays | ||||||||||
05:30 – 23:30 | 05:45 – 23:30 | |||||||||||
Buses leaving Woodlands Temp Int after 22:44 will terminate at Sengkang Int. | ||||||||||||
Departure Times from Sengkang |
Weekdays | Saturdays, Sundays / Public Holidays |
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05:45 – 23:30 | 06:00 – 23:30 | |||||||||||
Operating Frequency | ||||||||||||
6:30am–8.30am | 8.31am–4.59pm | 5.00pm–7.00pm | After 7.00pm | |||||||||
Frequency | 4 – 9 mins | 8 – 13 mins | 4 – 11 mins | 6 – 15 mins | ||||||||
Fare Information |
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Fare | Charges regular distance fares |
Service 965 is an inter-town route serving between the housing estates of Woodlands, Yishun and Sengkang. The route is frequented as a fast connection between Yishun and Sengkang due to its express sector along the Seletar Expressway (SLE) and Tampines Expressway (TPE). Service 85 also plies between Sengkang and Yishun, but serves bus stops along Sengkang West and Jalan Kayu before travelling to Yishun.
As the fastest public transport link between Sengkang and Yishun, this service experiences good demand all day round with higher demand during peak hours. High capacity Alexander Dennis Enviro500 double-deck buses were deployed from November 2014 to cope with peak hour loads.
Between Woodlands and Sengkang, Service 161 offers the faster route by skipping Yishun town entirely. From 2244hrs onwards (Daily), buses leaving Woodlands Temp Int will terminate at Sengkang Int but continue to operate as Service 965 (without other indications of its half-trip nature).
MRT/LRT Stations Served:
Special Departures:
- Sengkang Int → Woodlands Temp Int
Weekdays: 05:30, 05:39, 05:48, 05:57, 06:06 & 06:15
Saturdays: 05:30 – 06:15
Sundays / Public Holidays: 05:45 ~ 06:30 - Yishun Ave 2 (Yishun Stn) → Woodlands Temp Int
Weekdays: 06:32, 06:55, 07:16, 18:07, 19:15 & 20:15
Short Trip Service
- Service 965A: Woodlands Temporary Interchange → Yishun Avenue 2 (Opp Yishun Stn)
Weekdays (except Public Holidays): 06:21 – 06:57 & 17:32 – 19:49
Gallery
Operator History
- 2002 – 2004: Trans-Island Bus Services Ltd
- 2004 – Present: SMRT Buses Ltd
- (~September 2021) onwards: Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd
Operations for this route would be transferred to Tower Transit in 2021 as part of the Sembawang – Yishun Bus Package.
The Bus Service Operating License (BSOL) for this route will be renewed in 2026 under the Sembawang – Yishun Bus Package.
History
- 2002 (07 Jul): Introduced from Woodlands Regional interchange and looping at Sengkang
- 2003 (18 Jan): Amended to loop at air-conditioned Sengkang Integrated Transport Hub (ITH)
- 2013 (Feb):Â Service improvement under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP)
- 2013 (07 Jul):Â Designated wheelchair-accessible bus route (WAB)
- 2014 (17 Nov): Alexander Dennis Enviro500Â double-deck buses deployed
- 2015 (Dec): Bus Service Reliability Framework (BSRF) implemented for trial till Aug 2016
- 2016 (12 Mar): Amended to Woodlands Temp Int
- 2020 (22 Mar): Calls at a new pair of bus stops along Gambas Ave
Must become a bidirectional service
Agreed but however, Sengkang Bus Interchange is quite damn smaller as planned. As a small bus interchange, Sengkang Bus Interchange parking lots will not have enough parking lots for SMRT 965. If you think Sengkang is not small, then tell me why 110 and 374 terminated at Compassvale instead of Sengkang?
SMRT 965 may be unlikely to go for bidirectional service as at Sengkang, SMRT 965 helped to be at the bus interchange faster, without the need to take a long break at Sengkang for SMRT Captains. Please understand that SMRT 965 is shorter than SMRT Services 966, 969, 858 & 963, so is still okay for SMRT Captains to continue SMRT 965 return direction from Sengkang. That’s why Sengkang Bus Interchange only have SBS Transit Counter Service.
Looks like sengkang interchange has no space for bendy Buses.
It’s alr fortunate 965 have deployed double decker buses almost everyday, but lower amount on Weekends & Public Holidays. However do bare in mind, most of residents on 965 comes from Yishun as Woodlands residents will rather take a direct 161 to Sengkang.
Now got 2 perm MAN A95