Singapore’s newest electric buses will soon undergo modifications, following passenger complaints about high steps and raised seating areas.
According to a Shin Min Daily News article (2 Oct 2025), the changes come after complaints from elderly commuters about high steps and raised seating areas. Modifications will be carried out from October 2025.
Passenger Complaints
Passengers interviewed by Shin Min agreed that priority seats on the new buses are hard to access. Many are installed on raised platforms, requiring a tall step that can be difficult for seniors or those carrying items. In one case, a commuter said they saw an elderly man nearly fall while stepping down. The same interviewee observed that some elderly riders simply choose to stand rather than climb onto the raised seats.
The buses in question
The models affected are the BYD BC12A04 and Zhongtong LCK6126EVG. A total of 420 units—300 from BYD and 120 from Zhongtong—were procured by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in 2023.
Inside, each bus has 12 priority seats in the front section. While four are on the flat floor level, the remaining eight sit above the front wheel wells, requiring passengers to climb a high step.
In the rear section, where another 4 priority seats are located after the middle door, steps can be as tall as 33 cm due to the sloping floor. For comparison, older low-entry buses such as the Scania K230UB and staircases on double-deckers, generally do not exceed 23 cm.
LTA media responses
In response to Shin Min Daily News on 2 October 2025, an LTA spokesperson explained that the raised steps are a result of the buses’ fully low-floor design. To keep the passenger cabin step-free, manufacturers place components such as wheel wells and batteries under the floor, which makes some seating platforms higher.
To address commuter concerns, LTA confirmed that modifications will start in October 2025. The goal is to ensure steps do not exceed 23 cm, in line with current bus designs. This will be done by raising the floorboard height, and in the long term, by improving battery density so smaller batteries can be used.
Further reporting by The Straits Times published on 30 October 2025 added that buses will be taken out of service for one to two weeks each during phased modifications to minimise service disruptions. The article also mentioned that LTA had dropped the mandatory Full Low-Floor Requirement for 660 New Electric Buses.
LTA also clarified that plans to address the step height were already in progress before the report was published in Shin Min on 2 October. It also did not provide the total cost of the modification works when asked.
These adjustments represent a significant redesign for buses already in mass production. Still, the move highlights a willingness to adapt to passenger feedback—especially from seniors who rely on public transport.
Where these buses are deployed
As of October 2025, these electric buses are currently deployed out of the following depots:
- Sengkang West Bus Depot – Deployed on Hougang and Sengkang area services, such as:
51, 80, 86, 102, 107, 112, 113, 115, 116, 151, 153, 159, 163, 324, 325, 329, 371, 372 & 374 - Bulim Bus Depot – Bus services 66 & 77
- Loyang Bus Depot – Bus service 15
- Gali Batu Bus Depot – Bus service 75, 300, 307
In response to press enquiries, the LTA said that about 170 of the 420 electric buses are already on the roads, with the rest expected to enter service by the end of the year.
Interior
External Links & References
- 年长乘客：新巴士座位太高 上下不便险摔倒 – 新明日报 [Accessed 2 Oct 2025]
- LTA to lower step heights on new electric buses | The Straits Times [Accessed 30 Oct 2025] (Photo of modified BYD appeared in print; photo of modified Zhongtong from online article)
What a lousy flawed bus design by LTA…12M Single Deck with 3rd Door is a big mistake, should increase to 12.5m so have space for the battery, 3rd door, more space on bus and potentially more seats. Hope they will change the design and layout of the future bus purchases, too many backward seats too, hopefully they can try to change most of them to frontward. If anything single deckers dont rlly need the 3rd door…3rd door for DDs and Bendies are good enough
LTA mah always listen to passengers demand not staff or BCs.. That’s why passengers are so self-entitled
In order to save cost by buying Chinese, In the end fork out money to contractors to modified the raised platform… Hope LTA learn from this.
Another LTA fumble. All this could have been prevented from the very beginning? Only after news reports and investigations then modifications are carried out? Prime example of complacency. Job well done.
Easy for people online with no organizational experience to sit on their comfortable armchairs and complain.
Easy for YOU to suck off the teat of the paper general “experts” while bemoaning any critics because of your appeal to authority fallacy. Try again.
??? Bro where is your common sense. Govt implement something and APPROVED it. Now after Hoo haa from media etc, more expense is required to rectify it. You don’t need organisational experience, you need common sense and logic. Enjoy paying increased fares since it seems you love to defend people who are out of touch. Maybe you’re one of them.
It is so easy for you to sit on your comfortable armchair and just start complaining everytime. And when people tries to offer a different perspective, you resort to appeal to morality fallacy. This is Singapore not China, where anyone can offer differing perspectives.
Also, I wonder what experience you have and I would like to see you run a successful organization where ALL your decisions made are correct even in hindsight. Yeah like all of us have a crystal ball and can see what is wrong in the future. And if you make a mistake, im gonna call you out and say that you love fumbling.
I am not sure if there is any regulation for the seat height and whether this is being enforced by LTA. If not, this should be added and enforced and be a learning point for LTA. Hopefully, modification cost is covered by the manufacturer. I dont think it is useful to shame people who share this concern. The height is really dangerous for elderly commuters.
On the other hand, generalising this particular incident into one where LTA is pure fumbling is also not productive.
This comment section’s negative tone will only make the entire discussion become one of emotions instead of seeking actual accountability and giving opportunities for everyone to learn from mistakes.
So… ok, you ranted about me complaining about poor logic of LTA and you mention about offering another perspective, where? I will gladly and comfortably sit on my chair all day long and wait for a proper stance from you. LTA roll out unreliable e buses, which is forgivable as it is new but, to make a weird design and after rolling out a huge chunk of it, starts to regret their own choice. Was there any design considerations done before hand? And what is your genius perspective. And if LTA say they are going to reduce the height, why now? Why not beforehand?
Just remove one wheelchair space, and add about 4 more priority seats at that space will do.
No need to make such a costly modification.