The newly announced City Direct bus routes will be operated by private bus operators and will call at limited bus stops in housing estates before taking the expressway to the city. The City Direct service will make two one-way trips on weekday mornings to the city and two one-way trips in the opposite direction in the evening.

An additional City Direct service from Jurong West will be operated by ComfortDelGro beginning September 2013. Land Transport Authority (LTA) awarded the two-year contract to ComfortDelGro - one of eight companies that bid for the service - for $1.06 million yesterday. According to an LTA spokesman, the journey times to the city via the City Direct service will be "comparable to taking a connecting bus or LRT and transferring to the MRT into the city".

Meanwhile a tender has been issued by LTA for the other nine routes where cost proposals can be submitted by private bus operators. The nine City direct routes are part of the $1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP). With the nine new services, there will be a total number of 14 express bus services to the city - where four will be run by SBS Transit or SMRT.

The Straits Times reported that the buses will serve these areas - Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bukit Batok, Eunos, Hougang, Jurong East, Sembawang, Sengkang and West Coast.