【正文】 land Bus Services Ltd (TIBS). This is a stark contrast of the ten Chinese bus paniesthat ran the Singapore streets in the1960s and early 1970s. Then, the busservice was “very unsatisfactory” (Tan,1976a) as it was mon to have disruption of services due to mechanicalbreakdown, irregular fare and routestructure, less frequent and overcrowded bus services, due to the smallnumber of buses available. SingaporeBus Services was renamed SBS Transiton 1 November 2020. The new namereflects the multimodal status, a move207from being just a bus operator to theprovision of both bus and train services. From 2020, SBS Transit operatesthe North East MRT line and SengkangLRT, followed by Punggol LRT in2020. SBS Transit was formed in 1973through the merger of three private buspanies and listed on the StockExchange of Singapore (SES) in 1978as Singapore Bus Service Limited.TransIsland Bus Services Limited wasincorporated on 31 May 1982 as thesecond major public bus operator. Thiswas to provide some measure of petition to SBS and ultimately, improvethe level of service provided by busoperators. TIBS started operations on 3April 1983. In August 1994, thegovernment announced the transfer of17 SBS services to TransIsland Bus.TIBS areas of responsibilities wereexpanded to include Bukit PanjangNew Town and the uping towns ofSembawang, Simpang, Seng Kangand Punggol.Over the years, many initiatives havebeen introduced to make travelling viathe bus more attractive. These are asfollows.Bus lanes, “B” signal, “Give Way”signs One of the earliest measures isthe use of reserved bus lanes, introduced in 1974 to accord priority to public buses. This has improved bus travelspeeds and enables buses to adhere better to schedules (Chin et al, 1988). The“B” signal is displayed before the greenlight es on for other vehicles,allowing the buses to move ahead firstwithout the hindrance of other vehicles.To facilitate the movement of publicbuses on the roads, a “Please GiveWay” sign is fixed at the rear of thesebuses.Bus services In addition to the normalbus services, over the years, many special services have been introduced tomeet the changing needs of muters.Viewpoint: Muhammad Faishal IbrahimL50539 Express bus/rapid bus services.Express bus services have beenintroduced from the housing estatesto the Central Business District togive the muters a faster andmore direct service. It has less stopsand travels via the expressways forfaster long distance travel, makingthe bus a more attractive mode.L50539 Intra town services. In the past, residents who needed to go to anotherneighbourhood in the same townmay have been required to take afeeder bus to the bus interchange totransfer to another feeder bus to theneighbourhood. Intratown servicesavoid this, cost less than the totalcost of taking two feeder buses andbrings the resident directly to thedesired neighbourhood.L50539 Night bus services. These servicesoperate on Fridays, Saturdays andeve of Public Holidays from midnight to 4 am, plying from citycenter to the various housingestates. The fare is a flat rate of$ for farecard users and $3 forthose paying by cash. These busesprovide an affordable option fortravelling between the city andmajor housing estates around theisland after midnight, when thebasic scheduled bus services, MRTand LRT services have stopped forthe night. In October 2020, TIBSbroke new grounds by introducingmapbased routes online with its iBMAPS for its NightRider Services.The iBMAPS show detailed routesof all its Night Rider services andlandmarks which the buses pass.L50539 Supplementary bus services. Supplementary bus services, such as theCity Shuttle Service (CSS) andScheme “B” buses, serve highdemand corridors during peak periods. They supplement the scheduled bus services by increasing thecarrying capacity of the bus work. Singapore Shuttle Bus (Pte)Ltd (SSB), a fully owned subsidiaryof TIBS, operates the five CSS busservices that ply between the housing estates and the Central BusinessDistrict. Scheme “B” bus servicesare operated by the registeredowners of private hire buses andschool buses. They are required tooperate each bus route for at least210 days a year.208L50539 Premier bus services. Premier busservices are exclusive and upmarkettransport services that fill the gapbetween the basic scheduled busservices/MRT/LRT, and taxis andprivate cars. They charge premiumfares and operate only on weekdaysduring peak periods, ferrying muters between private residentialareas, MRT stations and CentralBusiness District. BusPlus ServicesPte Ltd, CityCab Pte Ltd and General Cars Rental Pte Ltd offer premier bus services.L50539 Niche public bus services. BusPlusService, City Link Direct and General Cars are three main operatorsthat provide niche public bus services in Singapore. They provideexclusive transport alternative formuters who prefer a morefortable and luxurious level ofservice. They operate routesbetween residential estates and theCentral Business District during themorning and evening peak hours, aswell as chartered services.EZlink card The Enhanced IntegratedFare System, a new fare collection system using contactless Smart Cards wasintroduced in early 2020 to replace theTransit Link Fare Card system previously used on the MRT, Bukit Panjang LRT and the buses. Unlike themagic farecards, which must beinserted into the ticket bezel of MRTand LRT faregates or bus readers, thenew contactless Smart Card can simplybe held next to a card reader for thecorrect fare amount to be deducted. Itwill be able to plete a typical transaction much faster than the currentfarecard. The project will bring thepublic tr