Transfer of City Direct Services to Public Transport Operators

City Direct Bus Services were introduced in 2014 as part of the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) and were solely operated by Private Bus Operators up to April 2017. Since then, City Direct Bus Services have been gradually withdrawn or transferred to Public Transport Operators.

The last handover took place on 14 December 2020, when operations of City Direct 668 was transferred to SBS Transit, thus completing the transition of City Direct Services from Private Bus Operators to Public Bus Operators.


Background

On 13 June 2013, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) called for tender VT387 City Direct Services, which consisted of City Direct routes 652 to 660. 6 of the 9 bus services in the tender were awarded to 5 different Private Bus Operators on 9 November 2013. Each contract for the City Direct route lasts 2 years.

The remaining 3 routes (658, 659 & 660) were not awarded due to unsatisfactory bids. These routes were re-tendered out in later November 2013 as “PT162 City Direct Bus Services” and later awarded to Aedge Holdings Pte Ltd in February 2014.

In January 2015, LTA exercised its option to extend the contract period for City Direct Services 651 – 657 for a duration of one year.

On 1 Aug 2016, LTA called for tender “PT288 City Direct Bus Services“, which consisted of City Direct Services 652 – 657. The contract for City Direct 654 was awarded to BT&Tan Transport Pte Ltd for SGD $1,226,507.60 on 14 November 2016. BT&Tan subsequently took over City Direct 654 in January 2017.

The remaining routes that were not awarded were subsequently either transferred to Public Transport Operators (PTOs) (653, 655, 656 & 657) or continue to be operated by the existing Private Bus Operator (652).

Subsequent tenders called by LTA for City Direct Services in 2017 (PT309 – City Direct Bus Services for 658 – 660 and PT321 – City Direct Bus Services for 661 – 665) were not awarded to any Private Bus Operators.

Since then, City Direct bus services were progressively transferred to PTOs. However, City Direct Services 658, 659, 662 & 664 were withdrawn in December 2018.

Summary of City Direct PTO changes

Summary of City Direct PTO changes
City Direct Last Private Operator Incumbent PTO Takeover Date
651 Rui Feng Chartered Tower Transit 13 Jan 2020
652 Ren Quan Transport SMRT Buses 6 Jan 2020
653 ComfortDelGro Bus SMRT Buses 13 Apr 2017
654 BT&Tan Transport Service SBS Transit 22 Jul 2019
655 Woodlands Transport Service SBS Transit 17 Apr 2017
656 Loh Gim Chong Transport SMRT Buses 17 Apr 2017
657 Transtar Travel SMRT Buses 24 Apr 2017
658 Aedge Holdings (Withdrawn from 17 Dec 2018)
659 Aedge Holdings (Withdrawn from 17 Dec 2018)
660 Aedge Holdings SBS Transit 2 Jan 2019
661 Aedge Holdings Go-Ahead Singapore 2 Jan 2019
662 Aedge Holdings (Withdrawn from 17 Dec 2018)
663 Bus Hub Service Tower Transit 28 Sep 2017
664 Aedge Holdings (Withdrawn from 17 Dec 2018)
665 Bus Hub Service Tower Transit 12 Oct 2017
666 BT & Tan Transport Go-Ahead Singapore 2 Mar 2020
667 Tong Tar Transport Service SBS Transit 9 Mar 2020
668 BT & Tan Transport SBS Transit 14 Dec 2020
669 Tong Tar Transport Service (Withdrawn from 3 Jun 2019)
670 Tong Tar Transport Service SMRT Buses 30 Mar 2020
671 Rui Feng Chartered SBS Transit 13 Jan 2020
672 Rui Feng Chartered SBS Transit 13 Jan 2020

 


City Direct Service Affected by Operator Change (Dec 2020)

City Direct 668
City Direct 668 Former Details From 14 December 2020
Operator BT & Tan Transport Pte Ltd SBS Transit Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0736hrs, 0743hrs & 0750hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1810hrs & 1825hrs No Change

 


City Direct Services Affected by Operator Change Previously

City Direct 651
City Direct 651 Former Details From 13 January 2020
Operator Rui Feng Chartered Pte Ltd Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0745hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1815hrs, 1830hrs No Change
City Direct 652
City Direct 652 Former Details From 6 January 2020
Operator Ren Quan Transport SMRT Buses Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0725hrs, 0730hrs, 0735hrs, 0740hrs, 0745hrs, 0750hrs 0725hrs, 0733hrs, 0741hrs, 0750hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1810hrs, 1825hrs No Change

SMRT Buses deployed Double-Decker Buses on City Direct 652 from 6 January 2020 to compensate for the reduced number of Morning Trips.

City Direct 653

 

City Direct 653 Former Details From 13 April 2017
Operator ComfortDelGro Bus Pte Ltd SMRT Buses Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0715hrs, 0721hrs, 0727hrs, 0733hrs, 0739hrs, 0745hrs 0715hrs, 0725hrs, 0735hrs, 0745hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1810hrs, 1820hrs, 1830hrs 1815hrs, 1830hrs

SMRT Buses deployed Double-Decker Buses on City Direct 653 from 13 April 2017 to compensate for the reduced number of AM & PM Trips.

City Direct 654
City Direct 654 Former Details From 22 July 2019
Operator BT&Tan Transport Service SBS Transit Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0735hrs, 0740hrs, 0745hrs, 0750hrs, 0755hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1820hrs, 1827hrs, 1835hrs No Change

 

City Direct 655
City Direct 655 Former Details From 17 April 2017
Operator Woodlands Transport Service Pte Ltd SBS Transit Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0745hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1815hrs, 1830hrs No Change
City Direct 656
City Direct 656 Former Details From 17 April 2017
Operator Loh Gim Chong Transport SMRT Buses Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0720hrs, 0726hrs, 0734hrs, 0740hrs 0720hrs, 0730hrs, 0740hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1810hrs, 1825hrs No Change

Under SMRT Buses, one morning trip was cut from City Direct 656.

City Direct 657
City Direct 657 Former Details From 24 April 2017
Operator Transtar Travel Pte Ltd SMRT Buses Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0745hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1815hrs, 1830hrs No Change
City Direct 660
City Direct 660 Former Details From 2 January 2019
Operator Aedge Holdings Pte Ltd SBS Transit Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0735hrs, 0740hrs, 0745hrs, 0750hrs 0730hrs, 0736hrs, 0743hrs, 0750hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1820hrs, 1835hrs No Change

SBS Transit deployed Double-Decker Buses on City Direct 660 from 2 January 2019 to compensate for the reduced number of AM Trips.

City Direct 661
City Direct 661 Former Details From 2 January 2019
Operator Aedge Holdings Pte Ltd Go Ahead Loyang Pte Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0740hrs, 0750hrs 0730hrs, 0750hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1810hrs, 1825hrs No Change

Go-Ahead Singapore deployed Double-Decker Buses on City Direct 661 from 2 January 2019 to compensate for the reduced number of AM Trips.

City Direct 663
City Direct 663 Former Details From 28 September 2017
Operator Bus Hub Service Pte Ltd Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0720hrs, 0730hrs, 0740hrs, 0750hrs 0720hrs, 0735hrs, 0750hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1815hrs, 1830hrs No Change
City Direct 665
City Direct 665 Former Details From 12 October 2017
Operator Bus Hub Service Pte Ltd Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0710hrs, 0716hrs, 0721hrs, 0727hrs, 0734hrs, 0740hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1815hrs, 1830hrs No Change

Double-decker buses were added to City Direct 665 from 9 April 2018 due to growing demand, with the AM trip departure timings adjusted to 0700, 0708, 0716, 0724, 0732 & 0740.

City Direct 666
City Direct 666 Former Details From 2 March 2020
Operator BT & Tan Transport Pte Ltd Go Ahead Loyang Pte Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0725hrs, 0740hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1810hrs, 1825hrs No Change

 

City Direct 667
City Direct 667 Former Details From 9 March 2020
Operator Tong Tar Transport Service Pte Ltd SBS Transit Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0745hrs, 0800hrs No Change
Weekday Evening Trips 1820hrs, 1835hrs No Change
City Direct 670
City Direct 670 Former Details From 30 March 2020
Operator Tong Tar Transport Service Pte Ltd SMRT Buses Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0720hrs, 0730hrs, 0740hrs 0720hrs, 0740hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1810hrs, 1825hrs No Change

 

City Direct 671
City Direct 671 Former Details From 13 January 2020
Operator Rui Feng Chartered Pte Ltd SBS Transit Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0730hrs, 0740hrs, 0750hrs 0730hrs, 0750hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1820hrs, 1835hrs No Change

SBS Transit deployed Double-Decker Buses on City Direct 671 from 13 January 2020 to compensate for the reduced number of Morning Trips.

City Direct 672
City Direct 672 Former Details From 13 January 2020
Operator Rui Feng Chartered Pte Ltd SBS Transit Ltd
Weekday Morning Trips 0735hrs, 0742hrs, 0750hrs 0735hrs, 0750hrs
Weekday Evening Trips 1820hrs, 1835hrs No Change

SBS Transit deployed Double-Decker Buses on City Direct 672 from 13 January 2020 to compensate for the reduced number of Morning Trips.


References:

Back to City Direct Services

10 thoughts on “Transfer of City Direct Services to Public Transport Operators

  • 24 January 2020 at 4:03 PM
    Permalink

    What about buses 666, 667, 668 & 670?

    Reply
    • 21 February 2020 at 10:18 AM
      Permalink

      Sooner or later all CDS routes will either be operated by PTOs or withdrawn altogether. Don’t forget TEL is in the ascendancy.

      Reply
  • 30 December 2019 at 12:48 PM
    Permalink

    LTA should also take the opportunity to transfer 663 and 665 to SMRT Buses while 657 goes to TTSG. TTSG can also take over 651.

    Reply
  • 29 December 2019 at 10:12 PM
    Permalink

    When will it be 651’s turn? 651 was launched in September 2013. The first city direct to be launched. It has been six years. Two cycles of operators have already been completed. When will 651 be transferred to the public operators?

    Reply
    • 1 January 2020 at 7:28 PM
      Permalink

      TT will operate 651.
      SBST-Seletar should take charge of 652 while GAS should be running 671.

      Reply
  • 20 December 2018 at 10:58 PM
    Permalink

    Strictly speaking, Comfort Delgro isn’t exactly a private operator. It is after all the parent company of SBS Transit. Just like the relationship between SMRT and Bus Plus.

    Reply
  • 17 April 2017 at 9:44 PM
    Permalink

    Just curious. Will LTA make these services wheelchair-accessible? Thanks

    Reply

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