A centralised bus fleet management system that will allow public transport operators to issue timely advisories to bus drivers will cost the Government $68 million to build and install.

On Wednesday, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that it awarded a contract for the new system to ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) and Trapeze Switzerland GMBH Consortium. The system will be implemented in phases from the end of next year.

Once it is ready, the system will allow public transport operators to manage their bus fleets more efficiently and provide commuters with more accurate bus arrival information. For commuters this should mean experiencing more consistently run bus services, said the LTA.

Currently, both SBS Transit and SMRT use separate bus fleet management systems to manage their daily bus operations and provide bus arrival information to commuters.

LTA group director for innovation and infocomm technology Rosina Howe said the authority has been working with the operators since 2013 on a "unified transport control system" that can relay information in real-time to the operation control centres, bus drivers and commuters.

Mrs Howe said the new system will allow operators to issue timely advisories to bus drivers via new touch screens, and dispatch buses to where they are needed.

She added : "With more accurate bus arrival information, commuters can better plan their journeys and travel options."

The new system will also allow LTA to measure the punctuality of buses accurately, as part of an incentive framework that rewards operators for meeting or exceeding service standards, and penalising them for failing to do so.

Based in Singapore, STE-Infocomm has implemented various transport systems here including CCTV surveillance at traffic junctions while the Trapeze Group specialises in implementing transport control systems for the public transport, including for Transport for London's 8,500 buses.