SINGAPORE — A total of 690 government-funded buses have been added to the roads here under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) as of last month.

In the third quarter of this year, 30 additional buses were deployed to improve 21 existing services during the morning and evening peak hours, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said today (Oct 9). “Some of these services have seen significant improvements in their frequencies,” it added. “In total, 450 weekly peak-hour bus trips were added in this period.”

Under the BSEP, 1,000 government-funded buses will be injected into the public bus network by 2017 to expand the fleet by around 35 per cent.

Meanwhile, as part of the ongoing quarterly bus service review process, SBS Transit (SBST) and SMRT have also improved 25 bus services by deploying higher capacity buses and/or adding more bus trips along sectors that experience heavy ridership.

The two public transport operators have added 110 weekly trips during the peak hours for these services in total in the third quarter of this year.

This is on top of the 450 additional weekly peak-hour bus trips added by the Government under the BSEP during the same period.

Separately, the second assessment period of the Bus Service Reliability Framework (BSRF) trial — from last December to May this year — has found that commuters, on average, have benefited from more regular wait times and less crowding. Seventeen out of 22 services reduced their Excess Wait Times, said the LTA.

SBST earned S$816,000 for reliability improvements to 12 services, and SMRT earned S$384,000 for improvements to five services.

For the first assessment period of the trial — from June to November last year — SBST earned S$710,285.71 for reliability improvements to 11 services, while SMRT earned S$345,714.29 for improvements to seven services.

The LTA said today the incentives help offset costs, such as the hiring of more service controllers, incurred by the public transport operators to support the BSRF.

In June this year, the BSRF trial was expanded by 12 services, with 11 more services joining the trial in December. This brings the total number of services under the trial to 45.

Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of this year, residents of Tampines/Simei and Marsiling/Woodlands can look forward to the implementation of another two City Direct Services — CDS 664 and 665.

Seven new routes will also be introduced to enhance connectivity in areas such as Bedok, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Jurong East, Jurong West, Marine Parade, Punggol, Sembawang, Tampines and Yishun.

The details of these new routes are currently being worked out.

According to the LTA, about S$420 million of the S$1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Fund, has been disbursed. The money has gone towards the purchase and operating costs of new buses, the introduction of new bus services, and improvement of existing bus services.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report said 30 additional buses were deployed to improve 213 existing services during the morning and evening peak hours in Q3 this year. This is incorrect. Thirty additional buses were deployed to improve 21 existing services. We also said the SBS Transit and SMRT have improved 254 bus services. This is incorrect, They improved 25 bus services. We apologise for the errors.