Tampines Retail Park Free Shuttle Bus Services (IKEA Tampines / Giant / Courts)

Tampines Retail Park houses IKEA Tampines, Giant Hypermarket and Courts Megastore, making it a popular shopping destination.

As of 6 September 2023, IKEA, Giant and Courts have each implemented their own dedicated shuttle bus services connecting directly to their respective premises. These shuttle bus routes establish convenient links between Tampines Retail Park and three key heartland MRT stations, namely Tampines, Bedok, and Sengkang.

Shuttle services to Tampines and Bedok run daily, while services to Sengkang only run on Weekends and Public Holidays. Details of each shuttle route are enclosed in the following sections, grouped by their respective retail destination served.

New Bus Service 296, which serves Tampines Retail Park, was launched on 28 April 2024.

The last day of the IKEA Tampines ↔ Bedok MRT shuttle is on Sunday, 16 March 2025.

IKEA Tampines ↔ Serangoon MRT shuttle commences Monday, 17 March 2025.

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Tampines Retail Park Shuttle Services

Click to expand the following sections.

Tampines MRT Station ↔ Giant / IKEA

Sengkang MRT Station ↔ Giant

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Serangoon MRT Station ↔ IKEA Tampines

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Operators

As of 6 Sep 2023:

• Giant: Leisure Frontier (S) Pte Ltd
• IKEA: Leisure Frontier (S) Pte Ltd (Subcontracted from Bookabus Pte Ltd)

The Tampines Retail Park shuttle by ComfortDelGro Bus formerly served Giant, IKEA & Courts. Courts and IKEA exited the Tampines Retail Park shuttle bus network from 1 Apr 2021 and 15 May 2023 respectively.

The operator for the Giant shuttle was changed from ComfortDelGro Bus to Leisure Frontier on 6 September 2023.

The Courts Megastore shuttle was formerly operated by Leisure Frontier (S) Pte Ltd (Subcontracted from Bookabus Pte Ltd).

Shuttle Boarding Points at Tampines Retail Park

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Operating History

Early years

The Tampines Retail Park free shuttle started in December 2006, in tandem with the opening of IKEA Tampines. Operated by SBS Transit, the daily Tampines MRT ↔ IKEA Tampines route was operated at 30-minute intervals. A new daily route, Bedok MRT ↔ IKEA Tampines, was added in March 2007. As Giant Hypermarket and Courts Megastore opened in the following months, the shuttle was amended to serve these outlets as well.

In September 2007, the Pasir Ris MRT ↔ IKEA Tampines route was launched, operating on weekdays only at 45-minute intervals. This shuttle service stopped at various en-route bus stops along Pasir Ris Drive 1, 8, 3 and 12. In late 2008, this service would be converted to daily operation, and in April 2009, weekday service was discontinued owing to low usage.

Also in late 2008, the Sengkang MRT ↔ IKEA Tampines route was launched, operating on weekends only at 1-hour intervals.

SMRT Operations

Sometime in 2009, SMRT’s charter arm BusPlus took over the Tampines Retail Park shuttle, with PA-plated Dennis Lance buses running daily and supplemented by TIB-plated Mercedes-Benz O405 buses on weekends. From ~2012, Dennis Lance buses would make up the full operating fleet, substituting Mercedes-Benz O405 buses.

In late 2014/early 2015, the Pasir Ris MRT ↔ IKEA Tampines route would only stop at Pasir Ris MRT, omitting all en-route stops in Pasir Ris.

ComfortDelGro Operations & Courts Decoupling

From 1 November 2016, ComfortDelGro Bus took over operations of the Tampines Retail Park shuttle services. The Tampines, Bedok and Sengkang routes were served by low-entry Scania K230UB buses that were formerly deployed on NUS Internal Shuttle Bus routes, while a minibus covered the Pasir Ris route. Coach buses would occasionally be deployed as replacement buses.

On 1 April 2021, Courts Megastore decoupled from the Tampines Retail Park shuttle service network, launching its own daily shuttle service to Tampines operated by minibuses. That same day, the shuttle routes were amended to omit Courts Megastore, and Courts was correspondingly removed from the bus’ liveries, initially via removing/covering mentions of Courts. Several months later, buses were re-stickered with an updated livery promoting IKEA and Giant only.

In February 2023, ComfortDelGro Bus would introduce Volvo B9L buses to the regular Tampines Retail Park shuttle fleet. Like the preceding Scania K230UB buses, these buses were also displaced from the NUS Internal Shuttle Bus fleet as newer buses were introduced to NUS. Buses were initially deployed in NUS colours and later received the black-themed livery promoting IKEA and Giant.

2023 IKEA Decoupling

On 15 May 2023, IKEA Tampines abruptly exited from the existing Tampines Retail Park shuttle network. Between 15–31 May 2023, a significantly-degraded interim timetable was introduced by IKEA with Bookabus Pte Ltd appointed as transport provider. Daily Tampines ↔ IKEA trips operated at 1-hour intervals, and Bedok ↔ IKEA trips operated only on weekends at 1-hour intervals  (no weekday service). The shuttle services from Sengkang and Pasir Ris MRT stations were discontinued.

According to IKEA, the shuttle service will be coordinated by Bookabus and seating capacity is limited to a first-come-first-served basis. During the interim period, the Tampines route was served by a 13-seater Toyota Hiace van on weekdays, and a minibus was deployed on weekends. The Bedok route was served by a Toyota Hiace van. Both routes are served by a minibus from 1 June 2023.

At the same time, Giant Hypermarket inherited the existing Tampines Retail Park shuttle network from 15 May 2023, with ComfortDelGro bus continuing to operate the service. The shuttle routes to Tampines, Bedok, Pasir Ris and Sengkang remained unchanged, except for the removal of IKEA Tampines as an en-route stop, and a reduction in shuttle bus frequencies. References to IKEA Tampines were also removed from the bus’ liveries.

2023 Giant Shuttle Degradation / Change of Operator

The Giant Tampines shuttle service schedule was revised from 6 September 2023, with changes summarised below:

• Tampines MRT route to only operate on weekends instead of daily, with shortened operating hours (1030 – 1900 instead of 0745 – 2230)
• Bedok MRT route to be withdrawn, previously operating daily
• Sengkang MRT route operating hours on weekends to be shortened (1000 – 1800 instead of 0800 – 2200)
• Pasir Ris MRT route to be withdrawn, previously operating on weekends only

The operator for the Giant shuttle also changed from ComfortDelGro Bus to Leisure Frontier.

2024 and beyond

On 1 June 2024, shuttle service to Courts Megastore ceased, with Courts no longer providing shuttle bus services.

On 17 March 2025, IKEA discontinued the shuttle service to Bedok MRT. A new route between IKEA Tampines and Serangoon MRT was launched, operating daily.

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Detailed Timings:

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