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 Since then, City Direct Bus Services have been gradually withdrawn or transferred to Public Transport Operators.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 However, City Direct Services 658, 659, 662 & 664 were withdrawn in December 2018.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 – SBS Transit Mercedes-Benz Citaro (SBS6584T)

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 - Tower Transit Mercedes-Benz Citaro (SBS6444P) — City Direct 651 – Tower Transit Mercedes-Benz Citaro (SBS6444P)

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

Bus 652: SMRT MAN Lion's City DD A95 (SG5757E) — Bus 652: SMRT MAN Lion’s City DD A95 (SG5757E)

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

SMRT Volvo B9TL Wright (SG5598Y) - City Direct 653 — SMRT Volvo B9TL Wright (SG5598Y) – 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 - SBS Transit MAN A22 Euro 6 (SG1858Z) — City Direct 654 – SBS Transit MAN A22 Euro 6 (SG1858Z)

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 - SBS Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3935J) — City Direct 655 – SBS Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3935J)

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 – SMRT MAN A22 (SMB1329G)

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

SMRT MAN A22 (SG1712K) - City Direct 657 — SMRT MAN A22 (SG1712K) – 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 - SBS Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3826R) — City Direct 660 – SBS Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3826R)

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 - Go-Ahead Singapore Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3442P) — City Direct 661 – Go-Ahead Singapore Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3442P)

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

Tower Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3387R) - City Direct 663 — Tower Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3387R) – 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 - Tower Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3412B) — City Direct 665 – Tower Transit Volvo B9TL Wright (SBS3412B)

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

Bus 666: Go-Ahead Mercedes-Benz Citaro (SG1064Y)

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 – SBS Transit Mercedes-Benz Citaro (SBS6849E)

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 – SMRT Buses MAN A95 Euro 6 (SG6172K)

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 - SBS Transit MAN A95 Euro 6 (SG6004M) — City Direct 671 – SBS Transit MAN A95 Euro 6 (SG6004M)

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 - SBS Transit MAN A95 (SG5903A) — City Direct 672 – SBS Transit MAN A95 (SG5903A)

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”

SG5565S
23 December 2021 at 1:51 PM

I must congratulate you for predicting the change of PTO for 652, 653, 657 and 665 correctly 1 and a half years prior
Pubg
24 February 2020 at 3:29 AM

The best is
651:SBST
652:SBST
653:TTS
654:SBST
655:SBST
656:SMRT
657:TTS
660:SBST
661:GAS
663:SMRT
665:SMRT
666:GAS
667:SBST
668:SBST
670:SMRT
671:SBST
672:SBST
- tan jun wei
  3 December 2020 at 8:22 PM
  
  651:TTS
  652:SMRT
  653:TTS
  654:SBST
  655:SBST
  656:TTS
  657:TTS
  660:SBST
  661:GAS
  663:TTS
  665:TTS
  666:GAS
  667:SBST
  668:SBST
  670:SMRT
  671:SBST
  672:SBST

Transfer of City Direct Services to Public Transport Operators