Tower Transit Outbid SMRT & Won 56 Bus Routes in a $1.03 Billion Contract

From the second quarter of 2021 onwards, we will be seeing Tower Transit buses driving around Sembawang and Yishun.

Huh? Tower Transit? I thought there are only SMRT and SBS buses on the road?

Yeap. I don’t know where you’ve been living in the last few years, but Tower Transit buses have already been on the roads since 2016.

The company is currently managing Bukit Batok and Jurong East bus interchanges, which are part of the Bulim bus package.

The package consists of 29 bus services with 320 buses, operating from Bulim Depot.

Tower Transit Singapore awarded a five-year contract for Bulim and Sembawang-Yishun bus packages worth about $1.03 billion

Now, the company has added 27 new bus services to its fleet, following a successful bid for the Sembawang-Yishun bus package.

This means they now have 56 bus routes.

According to the press release on September 30 by the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the tender for the Bulim and Sembawang-Yishun bus packages was called on 29 November 2019.

Bus operators had the option to bid for either bus package or for both packages.

The LTA awarded Tower Transit Singapore (TTS) a five-year contract for the Bulim and Sembawang-Yishun packages.

The contracts are worth about S$1.03 billion.

The Sembawang-Yishun bus package is currently operated by SMRT buses.

These services, which consist of 400 buses, will operate from the new Mandai Depot, which will be handed over to TTS by October 2020.

TTS will also manage Sembawang and Yishun Bus Interchanges.

Image: LTA website

Evaluation process

The tender submissions by bus operators were evaluated based on a two-envelope process which looked at both quality and price factors.

TTS was awarded the contract as it received the highest total score taking into account both quality and price factors in its proposal.

According to The Straits Times, SMRT has bid $1.19 billion for the contract of the two packages – which is $160 million more expensive.

Affected employees to be offered jobs by Tower Transit Singapore

According to LTA, the affected employees from SMRT buses who are in charge of the Sembawang – Yishun bus package will be protected by the Guidelines on Good Employment Practices in the Public Bus Industry.

What this means is that SMRT employees affected by the new tender or change in bus service contracts must be offered jobs by TTS.

The employment terms must not be worse than what they have been enjoying before the transition.

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