From Monday, 15 December 2025, 5 new City Direct Bus Services will be launched under the Land Transport Authority (LTA)’s Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme (BCEP).
These 5 City Direct services were previously mentioned in an LTA update from October 2025, which announced that these five services were due to be launched by end-2025.
In addition, these new City Direct services will also be part of the Travel Smart Journeys scheme.
City Direct 679
City Direct 679 connects Sengkang West & Fernvale with the Central Business District, Bayfront and Suntec City.
New bus stops will be constructed along Fernvale Road and Fernvale Street for this service.
| City Direct 679 | Morning Peak from Sengkang West Way (Opp Blk 471A) |
Evening Peak from Temasek Blvd (Suntec Twr Three) |
| Departure Timings (Weekdays except Public Holidays) |
07:25, 07:35, 07:45 & 07:55 | 18:00 & 18:15 |
City Direct 680
City Direct 680 connects Buangkok Crescent, Hougang and Serangoon North, with the City areas around Novena, Newton, Orchard, Somerset, and Dhoby Ghaut.
| City Direct 680 | Morning Peak from Buangkok Cres (Blk 991A) | Evening Peak from Orchard Rd (YMCA) |
| Departure Timings (Weekdays except Public Holidays) |
07:40 & 07:55 | 18:05 & 18:20 |
City Direct 681
City Direct 681 connects Hougang and Upper Serangoon with the City areas around Novena, Newton, Orchard, Somerset, Dhoby Ghaut, and Bras Basah.
| City Direct 681 | Morning Peak from Upp Serangoon Rd (Blk 477A) | Evening Peak from Moulmein Rd (St. Joseph Instn Jnr) |
| Departure Timings (Weekdays except Public Holidays) |
07:30 & 07:45 | 18:05 & 18:20 |
City Direct 682
City Direct 682 connects Anchorvale and Sengkang West, with the City areas around Novena, Newton, Orchard, Somerset, and Dhoby Ghaut.
| City Direct 682 | Morning Peak from Compassvale Dr (Blk 204 CP) |
Evening Peak from Orchard Rd (YMCA) |
| Departure Timings (Weekdays except Public Holidays) |
07:30, 07:40, 07:50 & 08:00 | 18:00 & 18:15 |
City Direct 683
City Direct 683 connects Punggol East with the City areas Novena, Newton, Orchard, Somerset, Dhoby Ghaut, and Bras Basah.
2 future bus stops are planned to be served by Service 683 along Punggol East.
| City Direct 683 | Morning Peak from Punggol Ctrl (Blk 162B) |
Evening Peak from Moulmein Rd (St. Joseph Instn Jnr) |
| Departure Timings (Weekdays except Public Holidays) |
07:20 & 07:35 | 18:00 & 18:15 |
Operator Posters
Reference
My guess is the fleet of buses would be coming from SMRT…
SLDEP will not operate the E6 version anymore, and those initially replacing KUB will go back. As SMRT original plan was to operate Jurong West package with their own fleet of buses. Now the GBD is operational taking in e-buses and kicking e5 B3 MAN to SLDEP.
Just so happen, 14 buses, which is what the 5 CDSes need.
SG1749E SG1758D SG1782H SG1787U SG1789P SG1791G
SMB3130Z SMB3131X SMB3132T SMB3133R SMB3135K SMB3145G SMB3148Z SMB3160L
First of all, CDS 679,680,681 and 682 is under Sengkang-Hougang which means it’s most likely operated by SWDEP, and then we talk about Go-Ahead City Direct Bus Service 683.
Which means one of the five new CDS will be operated by GAS and rest by SBS.
I think u mistaken. I am not saying they are operated by SMRT. I am saying the fleet of buses are coming from SLDEP instead for the respective depots like SWDEP and LYDEP.
SMRT current SLDEP package has 14 of those buses that were trfed in back then to replace KUB back to SBST, already heard they not keeping them once GB operational and taking in E-bus. Which was the case, most went to either GAS or TTS for the recent service introductions (452, 453, 872, 44, 104 etc)
So the 14 buses to operate those services are very likely to be those 14 regos, I might be wrong.
Yes I got it wrong, sorry about that
I think they need GAS man a22 bus
I guess LTA loves spamming CDS like hotcakes. The fact that the northeast doesn’t have a full day express baffles me. All we need is just ONE express bus and they can’t even do just that? With them giving the same excuses? C’mon man, the west has 502, the east has 518. NEL is crowded all day long.
They failed to fully tackle these problems, after all it’s only gonna solve for a limited time. I don’t even know what to say abt this. At this rate, they’re just wasting resources on some potentially pointless routes.
Probably because the past express services we had, all failed with low demand.
That was all in the past where the population is lower and not to mention the combination of poor route planning and even piss-poor frequencies has resulted in people just not taking these express buses
Have LTA actually even tried to run a comprehensive express bus service for the north-east that isn’t half-baked so that not everyone is forced onto the NEL like a can of sardines
Just resurrect 501/501M and 512 already.
Northeast is much nearer to town than northwest. Yet northwest don’t bother a direct route. Not a even one direct bus from yewtee.
10 years for DTL is a way too long
Probably because northwest didn’t have much BTO nowadays compared to what Hougang/Sengkang/Punggol are pumping. Pretty much there is not much developments in the west the past decade apart from Sengkang/Punggol/Tengah.
U need to remember, when 2003 NEL rationalisation took place, Buangkok and Punggol wasn’t even developed. Sengkang was partially. As a result, alot of NE services were cut, favouring the west sector (We talking about 97, 106, 111, 502 to name a few).
Foresighted of them that they built so much BTO in the northeast, that the NEL is no longer sustainable. Like, what do u mean the train is already full to door just at Punggol? Tbh, Punggol doesn’t even need CDS, since chances of them able to board the train is 100%. Why would they opt for a bus instead? Rather, they just need feeders bringing them to punggol MRT.
And like u said, northeast is nearer to town. In fact, from Sengkang to Dhoby, is just a 20 min journey. That’s why people opted to take the train, resulting in overcrowding issues we see today.
Also 62 extended to PGL and cut back to Lorong 1 Geylang. Should extend it to MCT via former 864 alignment.
Oh god, this is truly disastrous
You thought 675 – 677 were bad enough, now you have even more duplicative CDS.
679 is the only good fruit of this bunch, serving areas that existing CDS (apart from maybe 671) doesn’t touch.
But what the hell are the 68x series?? 680 is basically a more windy 660/M. Wouldn’t the better solution be to amend 660/M to Orchard?
681 is a ticking time bomb that might just end up having the same situation as 676 & 677: transit illiterate people are just going to use this as their way to the nearest MRT (in this case Hougang).
What about 671 amended/extended to Orchard, then 682 shortened and merge with 679 + extend to Shenton Way. And goodness, if there really is a need for YCK Rd to have a CDS, why doesn’t 671 already do it?! Is there really demand to justify delaying the CDS to stop along YCK Rd?
683 is the most criminal one. You need only one solution: 678 amend to Orchard. That’s literally all. There’s no point having to need a new service that is just directly duplicating 666 & 678 (the latter already being successful enough to have DD)
All that said, the new CDS are mostly simply trying to achieve maximum catchment but in a horrid way that forces 2 or more CDS to serve the exact same area (cue 660 675 680 absolute joke). And at this point, the Northeast is so saturated with bus services, but at least half of them with actual good coverage & connections are peak hours only
Whatever happened to full day CBD Express? Would this not be more effective at relieving the NEL than peak hour overly duplicative services?