Woodlands Bus Depot

Woodlands Bus Depot is a bus depot under SMRT Buses. Located along Woodlands Industrial Park E4, it serves as a parking and maintenance facility for bus operations mainly around Woodlands.

Woodlands Depot is a major bus depot serving the north of Singapore. It provides maintenance and refuelling work for buses in the area, and is commonly referred to as WLDEP. It is also SMRT Buses’ only multi-storey depot, covering two floors, and accommodates over 300 buses.

Woodlands Depot houses SMRT Buses’ main overhaul centre, which handles bus refurbishment and extensive maintenance works for the entire SMRT bus fleet. It is also a maintenance facility for SMRT Taxis and other companies/government agencies that subcontract maintenance work for road vehicles to SMRT Engineering Pte Ltd.

Besides being the headquarters for SMRT Buses, WLDEP houses SMRT’s Bus Operations Control Center (BOCC), in charge of all SMRT bus operations in Singapore.

History:

Land for the depot was acquired by Trans-Island Bus Service (TIBS), the predecessor of SMRT Buses, in Q4 1997 for the construction of its third bus depot after Ang Mo Kio and Kranji depots. Constructed between 1997 and 1999, the facility covers an area of 2.58 hectares and was built at a cost of $25 million. The bus workshop occupies the ground floor, while the upper floor houses additional parking space. The administration building is constructed as a separate wing and comprises SMRT offices and the Bus Operations Control Centre (BOCC).

The depot was officially opened on 23 October 1999 by Mr Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister for Communications and Technology. SMRT owns the leasehold title for the property (lot: MK13-03419P), with a land tenure of 30 years starting from 23 July 1997.

Woodlands Bus Park:

Owing to a chronic shortage of parking space, Woodlands Bus Park was opened in 2013 along Woodlands Avenue 4 as an additional bus parking space for Woodlands Depot. Solely providing parking space and with no other facilities, all refuelling/maintenance works are carried out at Woodlands Bus Depot.

Depot Fleet:

Woodlands Depot currently houses the following models of buses along with Woodlands Bus Park:

Single Deck Buses

• MAN A22
• Mercedes-Benz Citaro

Articulated Buses

• MAN NG363F (A24)

Double Decker Buses

• MAN A95
• Volvo B9TL

Gallery: (May 2017)

Gallery: (July 2014)

SBS Woodlands Depot

Singapore Bus Service also previously owned and operated a depot in Woodlands, also called Woodlands Bus Depot. Opened in the late 1970s, it was located at 950 Woodlands Road; the present-day Kranji MRT station and Singapore Turf Club. The depot closed sometime around 1985 with the opening of the Bukit Batok Bus Depot and the gradual handover of bus services in Woodlands and Bukit Panjang to TIBS.

• NewspaperSG – $25 m SBS investment (nlb.gov.sg)
• NewspaperSG – SBS opens depot in Bukit Batok (nlb.gov.sg)

External Links & References:

• SPEECH BY MR YEO CHEOW TONG, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF TIBS’ WOODLANDS DEPOT ON SATURDAY, 23 OCTOBER 1999 (nas.gov.sg)
• NewspaperSG – TIBS’ DOUBLE-STOREY GARAGE / The Straits Times, 26 July 1997, Page 38 (nlb.gov.sg)

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