Tower Transit Bus Service 969 is a trunk route between Woodlands Bus Interchange and Tampines Interchange, passing through Admiralty, Gambas Avenue, Yishun, Khatib and Tampines Concourse. The popular route plies a long express sector along the SLE and TPE, offering the fastest bus connection between Tampines and Khatib/Yishun.
969
| Route Overview | ||||||||||||
Route  |
Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub ↔ Tampines Bus Interchange |
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| Passes Through | Woodlands Ave 7, Gambas Ave, Yishun Ave 2, SLE, TPE, Tampines Concourse | |||||||||||
| Route Length | Towards Tampines: 27.3 km | Towards Woodlands: 27.0 km | ||||||||||
| Travelling Time | 70 mins | |||||||||||
| Operator Information | ||||||||||||
| BCM Route Package | Sembawang–Yishun Bus Package | |||||||||||
| Current Operator | Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd (Tower Transit Singapore) |
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| Current Depot | Mandai Bus Depot | |||||||||||
| Current Fleet | Single Deck Bus: – MAN A22 |
Double Deck Bus: – Alexander Dennis Enviro500 – Alexander Dennis Enviro500 (3-Door) – MAN A95 |
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| Operating Hours | ||||||||||||
| Departure Times from Woodlands |
Weekdays & Saturdays | Sundays / Public Holidays |
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| 05:30 – 23:45 | 05:45 – 23:45 | |||||||||||
| Departure Times from Tampines |
Weekdays & Saturdays | Sundays / Public Holidays |
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| 05:30 – 23:45 | 05:45 – 23:45 | |||||||||||
| Operating Frequency | ||||||||||||
| 6:30am–8.30am | 8.31am–4.59pm | 5.00pm–7.00pm | After 7.00pm | |||||||||
| From Woodlands | 4 – 8 mins | 5 – 10 mins | 6 – 12 mins | 10 – 12 mins | ||||||||
| From Tampines | 7 – 10 mins | 5 – 10 mins | 6 – 8 mins | 6 – 10 mins | ||||||||
| Fare Information |
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| Fare | Charges regular distance fares |
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Service 969 is an inter-town route serving between the housing estates around Woodlands, Yishun and Tampines. The route is frequented as a fast connection between Yishun and Tampines owing to its express sector along the Seletar Expressway (SLE) and Tampines Expressway (TPE). The route also calls at TPE (Bef / Aft Punggol Rd) for convenient transfers to and from other TPE Corridor bus services.
As the fastest public transport link between Tampines and Yishun, this service experiences good demand all day round with significantly higher demand during peak hours. Many buses are added during peak periods to cope with the demand increase, and high capacity double-deck buses were deployed from August 2014 to cope with peak hour loads. The journey between Yishun and Tampines takes around 40 minutes during off-peak periods.
MRT Stations Served:
Special Departures:
- Sembawang Rd (Blk 114) → Tampines Int
Weekdays: 05:40, 05:45, 05:53, 06:05 & 06:10
Short Trip Service
- Service 969A: Tampines Int → Yishun Ave 2 (Yishun Stn)
Weekdays, except Public Holidays: 08:08, 19:34 – 19:49
Gallery (Tower Transit):
Gallery (SMRT Buses) at Page 2.
Poster Gallery:
Operator History
- 2001 – 2004: Trans-Island Bus Services Ltd
- 2004 – 18 Sep 2021: SMRT Buses Ltd
- 19 Sep 2021 – Present: Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd
The Bus Service Operating License (BSOL) for this route will be renewed in 2026 under the Sembawang–Yishun Bus Package.
History
- 2001 (15 Apr): Introduced between Woodlands Regional Int and Tampines Int
- 2002: Serves the bus stop outside Blk 923 along Yishun Ave 2, skipping the bus stop outside Northpoint Shop Ctr
- 2013 (07 Jul): Designated wheelchair-accessible bus route (WAB)
- 2014 (05 Oct): Serves additional pair of bus stops before and after Punggol Rd along TPE
- 2016 (12 Mar): Amended to Woodlands Temp Int
- 2016 (18 Dec): Amended to ply Tampines Ave 9 and Tampines Concourse
- 2020 (22 Mar): Serves a new pair of bus stops near Sembawang Ave along Gambas Ave
- 2021 (13 Jun): Amended to Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub
- 2021 (19 Sep): Operations transferred to Tower Transit under the Sembawang-Yishun Bus Package
- 2021 (03 Oct): Serves a new pair of bus stops before & opposite Gambas Cres along Gambas Ave
- 2021 (12 Dec): Temporarily amended to Woodlands Temp Int due to road closure of east entrance to Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub
- 2021 (22 Dec): Amended to ply the realigned Tampines Ave 12, skipping part of Tampines Ave 9
- 2021 (26 Dec): Amended back to Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub
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2 pairs of new bus stops along Gambas Avenue for SMRT Bus Services 965 & 969.
Kindly consider service 969 to divert left after Yishun sports hall into Yishun Ave 1 to better serve commuter going to jalan kayu, punggol instead of plying a non productive route along lentor Ave., SLE, punggol where service 39, 85, 858 are duplicating.
Looks like 39 will be doing it after its route amendment.
Agreed. 85,851,852,853,854,855,857,858,965,969 covers the sector of lentor avenue from yishun avenue 1 to SLE & yishun MRT to SLE, 969 covers the sector from yishun to tampines, 858 covers the express sector from yishun to jalan kayu via SLE.
Hi Iskandar, if you turn into Jalan Kayu & Punggol, there will be Uproar especially for Yishun – Tampines. You don’t know how bad the demand it’s, it’s badly crowded. If go amend, it will be BADLY crowded like SMRT 190.
bus 969 – SG5504T -date 01NOV18
I board this train 0840 from yishun ..after 20min the bus just reach LENTOR bustop B12
I wonder why this bus was so slow in his speed .while he drove on the bus lane ..no traffic jam in front yet he still taking his own sweet time. Please aware that we are takking on way to work . I don mean he should speed but i guess the speed is soooo slow until i can see all the vehical passing us until disappear in my view spot …you can imagine on the high way and no traffic jam …what is the reason the bus driving super slow speed . I guess i will be super late today .
22 March 2019 at 6:03 AM Bus Stop 59119
Why the driver didn’t open the door? I was in a hurry to catch this trio. The bus still at the bus stop when I reached. I was waving at the driver but never bothered to open the door. Could you please ask your driver to check the passengers at the bus stop before leaving?
Knock the door 3 times the driver will look
I must compliment on this bus svc 969 12 July 6.25pm, SG5821C! I rarely come across bus which is so quiet and running smoothly along TPE! Maybe this bus is really well maintained and driven by a good driver!
But why SMRT bus service 969 are getting full single deck Citaro & OC500LE Bus Fleet since it was selected under LYDEP? Only can see 1 or 2 double deck buses on Sv 969! Sv 969 should get at least 8 – 10 double deck buses like SMRT does when it was under WPDEP.
I hope this service will be majority Amdep/Lybp when SMRT park at Loyang and deploy more A95