Three new bus services that will take commuters from housing estates to the Central Business District (CBD) via expressways will be launched progressively in the third quarter of 2014.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Tuesday that it has awarded a two-year contract for the services, named City Direct, to private bus operator Aedge Holdings. The three routes will operate from Hougang, Bedok and Eunos to the CBD during the morning peak and in the return direction during the evening peak.

"With limited stops and the use of expressways, journey times will be comparable to that of taking a feeder bus or LRT and transferring to the MRT into the city," said LTA in a media release.

Tender for these three City Direct services were first called in June 2013. As the bids were not compliant with the tender requirements or not sufficiently competitive to comply with Government procurement principles, a new tender was called in November 2013.