Bus Transition Management Division to help in smooth bus handover

A new division in the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the Bus Transition Management Division, will ensure a smooth handover of buses and services from incumbent operators to new players, reported The Straits Times.  It was formed in July last year to make sure that commuters are not inconvenienced by the transfers.

Anglo-Australian firm Tower Transit, one of two new players, will take over some bus routes from incumbents SMRT and SBS Transit as early as May, but the exact date has not been announced.

The new LTA unit has to work quickly on the night of the handover as it has only a window of about five hours, from the moment the first bus that has completed its service pulls into the depot at around 11:00pm till the start of the next day's service at 4:30am. Among other things, the division has to ensure that the electronic systems on the buses, such as that for fare collection, are updated to reflect Tower Transit as the new owner and that buses are signed off by existing operators to Tower Transit.

"The night of the cutover will be like a production line," Ms. Joyce Tay, the division's Deputy Director, said of the handover. "The most important (thing) is that we will minimise any disruptions to commuters, and they will continue to see their buses on the roads."