On Monday, 29 August 2016, SMRT Buses rolled out multiple MAN A95 double-decker buses on revenue service. First rolled out on Bus Services 67, 963, 963E, 964 and 969, these buses bear the standardized Lush Green SG❤Bus livery with SMRT’s corporate logo.
These buses are owned by the Land Transport Authority, and were allocated to SMRT Buses to meet new fleet requirements under the Full transition to the BCM. These buses are an addition to SMRT’s own small batch of Production Batch MAN A95 buses.
History:
SMRT Buses first brought in a MAN A95 demonstrator unit for road testing and evaluation in 2014 (SMB5888H). Subsequently, another 14 units were brought in and registered with the SMB-prefix (SMB5889E-SMB5904U). The Land Transport Authority has further purchased an unknown quantity of MAN A95 buses, and 4 SG-prefix MAN A95 buses were issued to SMRT buses in April 2016.
The September 2016 debut represent the most significant transfer of MAN A95 buses to SMRT, with a combined total of 60 SG-prefixed buses (SG5740C – SG5799J) registered under the Bus Contracting Model.
Pre-Debut:
The new MAN A95 double-decker buses were spotted inside the bus park of the old Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange in mid August 2016. Roughly half were painted in a plain lush-green livery (among them, only a few were stickered with the SG❤Bus and SMRT’s corporate logo), and the rest of the buses, in SMRT’s pixelated livery. These buses were originally delivered and parked at Bulim Bus Depot for storage since April 2016, together with other brand new Volvo B9TL and Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses.
Together with 12 new Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses and 21 Volvo B9TL buses, the additional MAN A95 buses would support SMRT Bus Operations under the new Government Contracting Model from 1 September 2016. Some of these buses were transferred to Loyang Bus Depot, a new operating base for SMRT Buses for its bus services that serve Bedok, Tampines and Changi Airport.
Loyang Bus Depot is currently operated by Go-Ahead Singapore, which will commence operations in September 2016.
Debut:
These new MAN A95 buses made their debut on Monday, 29 August 2016, in the days leading up to the Full transition to the BCM on 1 September 2016. First rolled out on Bus Services 67, 963, 963E, 964 and 969, these buses bear the standardized Lush Green SG❤Bus livery with SMRT’s corporate logo.
The buses were painted in a mix of 3 liveries:
- SMRT pixelized base livery (without SMRT logo)
- Lush Green (darker shade), with a black front panel
- Lush Green (lighter shade), with a green front panel
Among them, 10 buses (SG5790H – SG5799J) have USB Charging Ports onboard. Despite LTA’s Official Facebook page and other news outlets reporting that USB buses will be rolled out on 1 September 2016, they were in fact on the roads since 29 August 2016.
Relevant FB Posts
Gallery (Pre-Debut):
Gallery (Lush Green):
Gallery (SMRT Livery):
SMRT logos were affixed to MAN A95 buses issued to SMRT Buses in April 2016 (left picture). Those issued to SMRT Buses in August 2016 (middle and right pictures) did not come with the SMRT logo on the sides.
Related Articles:
- Lush Green Buses hit the roads!
- Transitioning of Buses to the Bus Contracting Model
- Buses with USB Charging Ports Hit The Roads!
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Nice
Hi I suggest that Smrt MAN A95 buses be deployed on services 167 and especially 980 – the latter has high passenger demand.
That looks cool…
Will other bus operators operate them too?
No