page_title: Bus transport in Singapore
section_title: Late 1990s-2000s: Bus operators go multimodal
hierarchical_section_title: Bus transport in Singapore / History / Late 1990s-2000s: Bus operators go multimodal
caption_attribution_description: EZ-link cardreader on the entrance of an SMRT bus. There are usually two readers on both entrance and exit of every public bus in Singapore.
context_page_description: Bus transport forms a significant part of public transport in Singapore, with over 4.0 million rides taken per day on average as of 2018. There are more than 370 scheduled bus services, operated by SBS Transit, SMRT Buses, Tower Transit Singapore and Go-Ahead Singapore. The newest bus operator, Go-Ahead Singapore started operation since 4 September 2016. There are also around 5,800 buses currently in operation.
context_section_description: By 1996, SBS had expanded far beyond public bus operations to include tourist transport (SBS Leisure), taxis (Citycab) and engineering works (SBS Engineering) to name a few. To better manage its business, SBS (1978) Limited was rebranded as DelGro Corporation while public bus services were now managed by a new subsidiary named SBS. This new company also won a tender in 1999 to operate the North East MRT Line and the LRT systems in Sengkang and Punggol and was rebranded as SBS Transit in 2001 to reflect its multimodal nature. By 2003, Delgro Corporation merged with Comfort Group to form ComfortDelGro, one of the largest land transport operators in the world whose operations include Metroline in London and ComfortDelGro Australia. In 2001, TIBS was merged into SMRT Corporation and by 2004, the TIBS name was dropped by SMRT, with TIBS now being known as SMRT Buses.
  During this period, there were also numerous changes outside corporate shakeups; in 1995, some bus services in Sengkang and Punggol were transferred to TIBS from SBS but this was reversed in 1999 when SBS won the contract to operate the North East MRT Line. In return, bus services in Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok were transferred to TIBS that year. In 2002, the contactless EZ-Link card was introduced to replace the magnetic farecard and the first air-conditioned bus interchange opened in Toa Payoh; by the end of 2019, there will be 11 air-conditioned integrated transport hubs (ITH).
  In 2006, SBS Transit introduced into service its first wheelchair accessible bus, the Volvo B9TL, on route 21 between Pasir Ris and St. Michael's. SSB wound up in 2007 with the discontinuation of the City Shuttle Service and its fleet was inherited by SMRT Buses. By 2009, both SBS Transit and SMRT Buses were renewing their respective bus fleets with new low-entry Scania K230UB buses and Mercedes-Benz OC500LE buses respectively.
  It was also in the 21st century when the public bus operators looked into alternative fuel sources. In 2002, SBS purchased 12 CNG-powered Volvo B10BLE buses whereas the first hybrid buses and hydrogen fuel cell buses were introduced in 2010.
caption: An EZ-Link card reader onboard an SMRT bus. EZ-Link contactless smart cards were first introduced in 2002
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