Tower Transit bus drivers to get 3.5% rise in pay

SINGAPORE — One of Singapore’s newest public bus operators, the London-based Tower Transit, announced on Monday (May 16) that it will be increasing the pay of its bus drivers and staff members by 3.5 per cent from this month.

With the news, at least one rival incumbent operator is expected to follow suit and raise salaries — SBS Transit’s senior vice-president of corporate communications Tammy Tan said the company would make an announcement soon after talks with the union.

Tower Transit’s pay rise will benefit more than 700 of its employees, including bus drivers on the 26 services to be taken over by the company from May 29. This is its first annual increment to its staff members after coming to an agreement with the National Transport Workers’ Union, the company said in a press release.

“The increment is based on national wage data and will mean that Tower Transit’s wages keep pace with the cost of living in Singapore,” it added. Mr Andrew Bujtor, its Singapore managing director, said this is done by keeping the increments separate from performance incentives.

“We believe this fits in nicely with the SkillsFuture Sectoral Manpower Plan for the public bus industry to attract and retain bus captains,” Mr Bujtor added.

Tower Transit has 812 bus captains on its roster, and three in four are Singapore citizens or permanent residents.

In February, when UK-based bus operator Go-Ahead Singapore, the other new entrant, announced its employment package, its basic starting wages were in line with what Tower Transit was offering, with Singaporean bus drivers being paid S$1,865 a month at Go-Ahead.

Now, a junior bus driver at Tower Transit will receive a basic monthly salary of S$1,930. With overtime pay and incentives, the bus driver can earn about S$3,440 and more a month.

Go-Ahead Singapore did not respond to TODAY for comments by press time.

The pay offered by the two new bus operators is slightly higher than what SBS Transit offers, where the basic starting pay of a Singaporean bus driver is S$1,775, excluding allowances and incentives.

Previously, SBS Transit said it was reviewing the starting salaries, benefits, allowances, incentives and entry bonuses of bus drivers. For this year, it plans to recruit about 250 bus drivers, 80 bus technicians and more than 500 rail operations and engineering staff members.

When asked if SMRT, which also operates existing bus services, would increase workers’ pay, Mr Gerard Koh, vice-president of human resources, said: “We will keep the total remuneration for our bus captains, which includes overtime pay and allowances, market-competitive.”

Commenting on Tower Transit’s move, Mr Melvin Yong, executive secretary of the National Transport Workers’ Union, said the union was “satisfied” with the outcome of the wage increment negotiation.

He added that it was a “result of close consultations” between the union and Tower Transit management.

“Besides helping our workers cope with the cost of living, the increment also serves to keep their wages competitive,” Mr Yong said. “This will be an important component as we work towards building a strong Singaporean core in our growing public bus industry.”

Tower Transit was awarded the contract to operate 26 bus services under the Government’s new bus contracting model last year.

The bus services run from Jurong East, Clementi and Bukit Batok bus interchanges.

Tower Transit’s services — 77, 106, 173, 177, 189, 941, 945, 947 and 990 — will begin with nine routes on May 29.