SMRT Buses - History

History

In 1982, the company ran with a fleet of 37 buses and two services, Service 160 (later renumbered Service 980) and Service 167. Later, more services were handed over to them by the government along with the tender to operate services in the northern region, mainly Yishun and the developing Woodlands New Town.

In 1995, as part of the government's plan to make the local bus system more competitive, 16 SBS services were handed over to TIBS Holdings (TIBS) along with the tender to operate bus services in the north-east corridor, mainly the developing towns Sengkang and Punggol as well as Bukit Panjang.

In 1996, TIBS began operations at the Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange, Singapore's first underground bus interchange. It was also the first bus interchange designed to accommodate articulated buses. TIBS used articulated buses, some of which were designed by world-renowned designer, Pininfarina and was known as the Habit articulated buses, on a large scale in its fleet, in contrast to the double-deckers used by Singapore Bus Service (SBS).

Things changed in 1999, when SBS Transit won the tender to operate the North East Line in the north-east corridor. In order to allow better coordination and synergy between rail and buses, SBS Transit was allowed to take back control of bus services in the northeast. In return, TIBS and SMRT Buses agreed to merge, and TIBS was to operate bus services in the north-west corridor towns of Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok.

The handover was done in stages. Eight TIBS services in the northeastern corridor were handed over to SBS Transit in 1999. In 2004, the merger was completed, and TIBS adopted the name SMRT Buses to reflect their merger with SMRT.

On 26 November 2012, 170 bus drivers (all of whom are foreign nationals from China), refused to leave their living quarters for work. This reduced bus services to 90% of normal levels. The Ministry of Manpower considered it an illegal strike since the group failed to give a 14 days notice prior to disrupting an essential public service, as is required by the local laws. As a result, 5 of the strikers were jailed for instigating the strike, and another 29 were deported.

On 23 April 2013, the Land Transport Authority announced that a new bus depot will be built by the authority itself. It will be located off Jurong West Avenue 2. It will be the first depot that LTA is developing and funding, as part of the review of the enhanced structural assistance that Government is providing the bus industry announced in Committee of Supply (COS) 2012. The depot is intended for SMRT Buses Ltd, to accommodate the additional buses that it is bringing in over the next few years. The operator’s existing bus depots and bus park are reaching full capacity, and the new facility is necessary to support the higher number of buses as the overall bus capacity is progressively increased under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP).