100 Three-door Double-Decker Buses Procured by LTA

On 25 April 2019, LTA awarded a contract for the Procurement of 3-Door Euro 6 Double Deck Diesel Buses (Contract Ref. PT342) to 2 different tenderers. Each tenderer will deliver 50 buses each.

Notes:

• 1 – As per LTA Press Release
• 2 – Price Listed in GeBIZ, Singapore Government’s one-stop e-procurement portal

The 100 Three-Door Euro 6 Double Decker Buses enter revenue service from 2020. Details regarding the depot and bus service allocation for the buses will be announced closer to the implementation date.

Background

Tender PT342 for Procurement of 3-Door Euro 6 Double Deck Diesel Buses was put up by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 15 May 2018. As part of the tender, 100 buses will be procured.

Specifications

Similar to the previous tender of Euro 6 Double Deck buses released in December 2017, these new buses are Euro 6 (or Euro VI)-compliant, representing the latest in emission standards which came into effect since 1 January 2018 for all new diesel vehicles registered in Singapore.

Similar to the ADL Enviro500 Mock-Up Bus exhibited in 2016, the 3-door double-deck bus will have one entrance and two exit doors. The rearmost exit door will be behind the rear axle. In addition, the bus will have two staircases and built in a fully-low-floor design. The bus is limited to a maximum length of 12.5 metres. A third artist’s impression of the bus features window panels lining both front and rear staircases, a design used on the Wright Gemini III-bodied Volvo B8L and Kowloon Motor Bus’s latest batch of ADL Enviro500 buses.

New requirements imposed by the LTA for new buses include an enhanced Passenger Information Display System (PIDS) comprising LED text displays, LCD display screens and interior speakers. In addition, an exterior-facing display screen and an external speaker is included. An Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), driver anti-fatigue detection system, high-definition CCTV cameras, and passenger counters at entrance and exit doors of the bus are among the additional specifications required by LTA.

The buses will also be equipped with 2 wheelchair bays. The Diesel-Hybrid buses (Volvo 7900 Hybrid), conventional Euro 6 Double Deck Diesel buses and Electric buses will also feature 2 wheelchair bays.

Design Challenges

Prior to this tender, European bus manufacturers typically made fully-low-floor chassis targeted at their domestic left-hand-drive (LHD)-dominant market. As a result, drivetrain components are flushed to the left of the chassis to accommodate a full-low-floor design and an optional third door at the rear (example: Volvo B5LH drivetrain).

Given that the tender called for a right-hand-drive (RHD), full-low-floor diesel bus with a third door at the rear overhang, bus manufacturers faced the challenge of modifying existing designs to fulfil this (relatively) small batch of buses in the most economical way.

The second staircase at the rear will likely be either rear-facing (similar to the front staircase), or of a spiral design to conserve seating space on the upper deck, much like the ADL Enviro500 Mock-Up Bus. It is believed that feedback from the revenue service trial of the MAN Lion’s City DD L Concept Bus (SG5999Z) was unfavourable with regards to the safety of the front-facing rear staircase, which put passengers at risk of falling forwards when the bus had to brake suddenly. A retractable barrier was retrofitted after its debut, which prevents upper deck commuters from accessing the rear staircase when the bus is in motion, and only opens when the bus is at a stop.

The differing design approaches taken by both manufacturers are detailed in the respective bus articles.

MAN A95 (Euro 6) – 3-Door Batch

ST Engineering (Land Systems) and MAN managed to modify the existing MAN A95 chassis into a three-door bus without changing the drivetrain layout, but necessitated having a raised lower deck rear floorboard to accommodate underfloor components, particularly the drive shaft which lays between the engine and the drive axle.

As a result, the 3-door MAN A95 (Euro 6) buses are not fully-low-floor. The aisle area near the third door is raised by one step, and the additional headroom required on the lower deck protruded into the upper deck, necessitating a unique upper deck rear seating layout with side- and rear-facing seats.

Alighting from the rear door requires passengers to descend from two steps. A similar rear exit staircase is featured on the MAN Lion’s City SD 3-Door Concept Bus, but with three steps.

Alexander Dennis Enviro500 (3 Door)

Coming soon

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Tender Process

Stage 1 Tender

As of tender closing time on 23 July 2018 at 4:00PM, participants of the tender are as follows:

• Alexander Dennis (Singapore) Services Pte Ltd
• ST Engineering Land Systems Ltd
• Volvo East Asia (Pte) Ltd
  (Now Known As: Volvo Construction Equipment Singapore (Pte.) Ltd.)

In this first-stage tender, tenderers submit a base offer for 100 Buses.

Stage 2 Tender

After the Stage 1 Tender was closed on 23 July 2018, tenderers who submitted bids were invited again to submit their quotations for 100 & 50 Three-Door Buses separately.

The Stage 2 Tender closing time was extended once to 6 September 2018, 4:00pm.

Submitted Price Proposals for Stage 2 Tender are as follows:

Note:

• For Base Offer 2, Volvo submitted 6 Alternative Offers, while Alexander Dennis submitted an alternative offer for 200 buses.

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Legislation

On 15 April 2019, the Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) (Exemption for 3-door Omnibus) Order 2019 [Link] was made, which exempts the 3-Door Omnibuses procured by LTA to rules 6(1), 44(1), 60(1) and 77(1)(d) and (e) under the Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use), as follows:

• 6(1) – The overall length of a motor vehicle, other than an articulated vehicle, shall not exceed 12 metres.
• 44(1) – Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the overhang of a motor vehicle shall not exceed 60% of the distance between the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle which passes through the centre or centres of the front wheel or wheels and the foremost vertical plane from which the overhang is to be measured as defined in rule 2.
  44(2) – The Registrar may permit the overhang of a public service vehicle to be more than 60% but less than 65% of the distance referred to in paragraph (1).
• 60(1) – Every vehicle shall be so constructed as to be capable of turning in either direction in a circle which does not exceed in diameter 19 metres.
• 77(1)(d) – Other than an emergency exit, every entrance and exit of a vehicle registered on or after 15 February 2006 but before 1 July 2019 as an omnibus shall be at least 1,200 millimetres and shall be fitted with a centre stanchion bar in such manner as the Registrar may specify.
• 77(1)(e) – Other than an emergency exit, every entrance and exit of a vehicle registered on or after 1 July 2019 as an omnibus shall be at least 1,200 millimetres.

In summary, the 3-door buses under Contract PT342 are allowed to be longer than 12 m (max. 12.5 m), have a longer vehicle rear overhang (>60% of wheelbase allowed), have a greater turning circle (>19 m diameter), and have passenger doors narrower than 1.2m width (likely for the third door only).

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Previous Three-door Bus Trials

Previous three-door bus trials included the MAN Lion’s City DD L Concept Bus with Tower Transit (on Bus Service 143), the MAN Lion’s City SD 3-Door trial with SMRT Buses (on Bus Service 190 & 901), as well as the Alexander Dennis Enviro500 Concept Bus Mock Up featured during the Our Bus Journey Bus Carnival in 2016.

Currently, the MAN Lion’s City DD L Bus is operated by SBS Transit on Bus Service 7.

MAN Lion’s City DD L Concept Bus:

MAN Lion’s City SD 3-Door Bus:

Alexander Dennis Enviro500 Concept Bus Mock Up:

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See Also:

• ADL Enviro500 3-Door Concept Bus
• ADL Enviro500 3-Door Concept Bus – 2018 update
• MAN Lion’s City DD L Concept Bus
• MAN Lion’s City SD 3-Door Bus

References:

• LTA Awards Contract for 100 Three-Door Buses to Two Tenderers – LTA
• LTA to Purchase 100 Three-door buses – LTA
• LTA to Purchase 100 Three-Door Buses – SGForums
• Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) (Exemption for 3-door Omnibus) Order 2019 – Singapore Statutes Online