On 19 September 2025, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced the awarding of the Tampines Bus Package to Go-Ahead Singapore.
The 5-year contract, estimated at a total fee of $646 million, represents the first tendered package term for the Tampines Bus Package. It will commence on 5 July 2026, with an option for extension of 2 to 5 years.
With this, Go-Ahead Singapore will succeed SBS Transit as the operator of 27 bus services in the Tampines region. It will also operate around 400 buses from the new East Coast Bus Depot, including over 250 electric buses.
In addition, it will also manage Tampines Bus Interchange, Tampines Concourse Bus Interchange, Tampines North Bus Interchange & Changi Business Park Bus Terminal.
Contract PT220: Tampines Bus Package
Tampines Bus Package has been operated by SBS Transit under a negotiated contract since the start of the Bus Contracting Model in September 2016.
Go-Ahead Singapore will succeed SBS Transit as the new operator of this package. Buses will also be based at the new East Coast Bus Depot, instead of the existing Bedok North Bus Depot.
| Incumbent | SBS Transit Ltd |
| Present Contract Term |
Negotiated Contract (Contract PT207): Sep 2016 – July 2026 (9 years & 10 months term) |
| Upcoming Contract Term |
Tendered Package 1st Term (Contract PT220): July 2026 – 2031 |
| Awarded Operator |
Go-Ahead Singapore Pte Ltd (subsidiary of tenderer: The Go-Ahead Group Limited) |
| Bus Services |
4, 10, 10e, 18, 19, 20, 23, 28, 29, 31, 37, 38, 39, 47, 65, 69, 72, 81, 127, 129, 291, 292, 293, 296, 298/298X, 299 & 513 (27 bus routes) |
| Handover Date | From 5 July 2026 |
| Bus Depot | East Coast Bus Depot |
| Bus Interchanges | Tampines Bus Interchange, Tampines Concourse Bus Interchange, Tampines North Bus Interchange |
| Bus Terminals | Changi Business Park Bus Terminal |
Reasons for the award to Go-Ahead Singapore were provided by LTA:
- Highest total score for the Tampines Bus Package proposal, taking into account both price and quality factors
- Offered cost savings for LTA compared to the current contract
- Initiatives that would help to raise the industry’s capabilities for large-scale electric bus deployment, building on its UK Group’s experience and expertise in operating the largest fleet of electric buses in London:
— Work with the Singapore Bus Academy to establish a Satellite Centre of Excellence in Singapore to facilitate knowledge transfer and build expertise in electric bus operations for the industry. The centre will develop a team of skilled local electric bus specialists to support Singapore’s transition to a cleaner energy public bus fleet.
— Utilise AI-driven tools to aid Service Controllers in regulating intervals between buses and controlling bus deployment, helping to reduce bus bunching and improve service reliability - Commuter-friendly initiatives, such as ‘Caring Corners’ at bus interchanges and ‘Baby on board’ badges for pregnant commuters
- Programmes to enhance staff welfare through comprehensive programmes focusing on health, safety, and professional development
The Go-Ahead Group Limited (Go-Ahead Singapore) submitted both a base proposal and an alternative proposal for the Tampines Bus Package, both of which were compliant. LTA awarded the tender to the alternative proposal by The Go-Ahead Group Limited.
With the award of the Tampines contract, Go-Ahead Singapore will expand to over 2,000 staff members and operate a total fleet of more than 800 buses, including over 270 zero-emission vehicles, with scope to introduce further electric buses during the contract period.
Transition of impacted workers
Current SBS Transit employees from the Tampines Bus Package will be protected by the Public Transport Tripartite Committee’s Guidelines on Good Employment Practices in the Public Bus Industry and must be offered a job by Go-Ahead Singapore, the incoming operator, at employment terms that are no worse off than their current employment terms.
In addition, Go-Ahead Singapore has also committed to ensuring that the remuneration for the current workforce remains competitive.
Affected employees can also choose to join Go-Ahead Singapore or be redeployed by their current employer (SBS Transit), where feasible.
Bid Prices
The tender for the Tampines Bus Package was called on 19 December 2024. The awarded tenderer and its corresponding contract sum are highlighted in red.
| No. | Company | Base | Alternative |
Alternative 2 |
| 1 | Bravo Transport Holdings Limited | ^ | — | — |
| 2 | SBS Transit Ltd | $596,016,898.92 | $586,029,129.17^ | — |
| 3 | SMRT Buses Ltd | $613,495,283.00 | — | — |
| 4 | The Go-Ahead Group Limited | $651,343,327.61 | $646,244,809.73 | — |
| 5 | Tower Transit Singapore Pte. Ltd. | $617,021,481.00 | $610,453,915.00 | $615,455,246.00 |
^ = Bravo Transport Holdings Limited’s base bid and SBS Transit Ltd’s alternative bid were not considered in the price evaluation.
The tender submissions were evaluated based on a two-envelope process, which looked at both quality and price factors. The price submissions were only opened after the quality evaluation was completed. This two-envelope process ensures that LTA gets the best value-for-money proposal without compromising on quality.
According to the LTA, it placed greater emphasis on the proposal’s quality, particularly in electric bus operations and maintenance capabilities, given the large-scale electric bus deployment in this package.
LTA also retains the option to extend the contract by between two and five years, beyond the end of the initial five-year term.
References
- LTA Awards Tampines Bus Package to Go-Ahead Singapore – Land Transport Authority
- Go-Ahead expands in Singapore with major new contract – The Go-Ahead Group
Back to Tampines Bus Package
I hope with this new package Go ahead will change their logo’s to orange for all their buses instead of the current black colour.
Yeah just like white logo TT for Bulim and green for Mandai
Congratulations to GAS! Now with GAS winning Tampines, SBST will lose its majority in BCM and in the first time ever since its inception in 1973, as SBST and non-SBST operators will now operate the same number of packages (7). Hoping the trend continues and we’ll see more non-SBST operators winning SBST operated packages.
A few things I noted about this huge transfer:
GAS will now need to set up many PSO & BC facilities in 5 new bus interchanges.
This will be the first time we will see GAS operate the following buses: Scania KUB, Linkkers, ADL 3D2S and the Volvo B5LH, although some of these may or may not be transferred back to BNDEP.
Many bus services will place huge exertion on existing resources in ECID once buses are transferred, as the following services 10/e, 28, 31, 65 & 129 can no longer operate dual-depot and have to rely on buses & BC solely from ECID. We may have to expect significant degradation of these services for the first few weeks… 72 must also begin to use buses from ECID and not SED.
Now the issue with Service 18 no longer being able to terminate at BNDEP, since 18 will no longer be under SBST (same issue with Service 17A back in 2016). My suspicion is that 18 would only be extended southwards to terminate at either two of these: ECID, or CBP. My bet is on ECID. UEC is highly unlikely since that’s overstretched abit too far.
There’s a possibility Service 29 can terminate in Changi Village, but preferably it should be kept as a loop since it functions better that way. No, Service 68 probably still cannot terminate in Tampines due to space constraints.
18 will be just like 17A unofficially loop at Changi South Lane.. 29 actually can loop at Tampines instead to relieve some parking lots.
I don’t think they will use the KUB since they’re allocated more than 270 EV buses.The package only consist of 403 buses.I also got a strong feeling that 2026 Loyang bidding they will lost to either SMRT or TTS and bag CCK-BPJ(Northwest) instead just like TTS Bulim(West) and Mandai(North).
I feel that service 2 and 36 will be better under Tampines Package instead of Loyang cause Loyang will be demolished and move to Lorong Halus Depot in future.
I hope CCK-BPJ stays under SMRT because it’s my favourite bus package. Also SMRT must dual-depot 180.
That’s why I said it’s better to lose Loyang and win CCK at least portion of svc 10 and 65 can park at Gali Batu or worse request LTA to park at Updep.
ADL would not be going over. They rejected it back then.
Same goes for B5LH.
KUB would also not be going over. Direct replacement using e-bus once they retire. Probably not the BYD or Zhongtong since the remaining ones would go to GBDEP or SWDEP. The upcoming contract would be awarded soon with buses delivered in 2026 (Just nice for the start of the term).
A22s are dependent, but following how SWDEP does things, the only SD models might all be electric buses judging by how they already state to operate 270 electric buses. The entire tampines package consists of just shy of 400++.
I think they will use KUB for a short while like Jurong West Bus Package.
Great congratulations to Go-ahead Singapore for winning the tender to be the new operator of Tampines bus package! With bus services 3 and 68 already under Go-ahead Singapore, Tampines bus interchange will have only bus service 8 still under SBS TRANSIT, bus service 67 under SMRT BUSES and 969 under TOWER TRANSIT SINGAPORE. Tampines will still have 4 transport operators. The only difference is that most of the bus services will be under Go-ahead Singapore from 5 July 2026. By then, Go-ahead Singapore will be the main operator at Tampines bus interchange with its buses holding the decal of Go-ahead Singapore.
July 2026 history will be written as SBST monopoly will be broken.
Kent Ridge will host GAS 10.
Harbourfront will host GAS 65.
First time GAS ply Serangoon Rd with 23.
Toa Payoh will host GAS 28 & 31.
First time Changi Air freight will have GAS 19.
29 can amend to have 2 directional svc to and fro Tampines-CV.
First time GAS 72 serve YCK Int.
First time GAS 129 serve St Michael’s.
All the best GAS although I dislike some of your toxic management and staffs.