SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) put up for tender on Friday (April 28) a fourth bus package mainly covering the Bukit Merah and city area.

This is under the bus contracting model it has been using since last year — where it owns all operating assets, including buses, and determines services and standards, while operators bid for the right to operate the services and are paid fees.

Excluding the three tendered bus packages earlier — Bulim, Loyang and Seletar — Singapore’s remaining public bus services have been reorganised into 11 packages for greater operational efficiency and for greater competition through tendering, in order to yield cost efficiencies in the longer term.

Last August, the LTA got going on the transition to the new contracting model by reaching agreements with incumbent bus operators SBS Transit and SMRT Buses on the 11 packages, with contract durations ranging from two to 10 years. Once the contract is up, these negotiated packages will be put up for competitive tendering, open to both Singapore and foreign bus operators, just like the earlier three packages.

The Bukit Merah contract is the first of these 11 packages and consists of 18 bus routes primarily serving the Bukit Merah town and the Central Business District. There will also be cross-border services to Johor Baru in Malaysia.

The contract, now held by SBS Transit, is due to expire in September next year.

The new operator that wins the latest tender will get the contract to serve for five years from the last quarter of 2018, from the new Ulu Pandan Bus Depot scheduled to be completed next year.

If there is good performance from the operator, it may get to serve for another two years, the LTA said in its press release.

To give enough time for the incoming operator to build up its resources, such as the hiring and training of bus captains and technicians, bus services would be progressively implemented in four tranches through the transition, the LTA also said.

For a start, about 340 buses will be included in the package. It can grow to about 390 buses by the end of the contract, in tandem with new developments and projected growth in ridership.

In awarding the tender, the LTA said on Friday that proposals would be judged for both quality and price, with more weightage given to quality.

As each new tender or change in contract for bus services may result in the movement of employees from one operator to another, the LTA said that it would engage various stakeholders to safeguard the welfare of workers who might be affected when the bus package changes hands.

Should there be no change in operators, no handover of assets will be needed, and existing bus employees will not be affected.

Included in the Bukit Merah package are these bus services: 5, 16, 57, 93, 120, 121, 122, 123/123M, 131/131M, 145, 160, 170/170A, 195, 198, 272, 273, 400, and 402. They will be deployed from Bukit Merah, Harbourfront and Jurong East temporary bus interchanges, as well as Buona Vista, Marina Centre, New Bridge Road, Queen Street and Shenton Way bus terminals.