10 bids received for second bus tender under Government contracting model

Twenty-two of the routes are currently run by SBS Transit, with three new routes to be added. PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

SINGAPORE - The Land Transport Authority has received 10 bids for the second Government bus tender, which closed at noon on Friday.

Bids to run the Loyang package - 25 bus routes in the Punggol and Pasir Ris area - were submitted by three local firms, four foreign players and three joint ventures.

The three Singapore companies are SBS Transit, SMRT, and Woodlands Transport, while the foreign entities are Busways (Australia), Keolis (France), RATP Dev Transdev Asia (France), and Go-Ahead (Britain).

The consortiums are: Travel GSH (Singapore) and Jiaoyun Group Corp (China), Kok Tong Transport and Engineering Works (Singapore) and Jinan Public Transportation Corp (China), and lastly, Tian San Shipping (Singapore) and Kumho Construction and Engineering (South Korea).

In the inaugural tender, 11 bids were received, with Anglo-Australian group Tower Transit being awarded the deal in May 2015. Tower Transit had put in a bid of $556 million for the five-year contract to operate the Bulim package, 26 routes in the western part of the island.

The winning firm for this second package is expected to start services from the second half of 2016 with about 400 buses. This will grow to about 500 buses in 2021.

Twenty-two of the routes are currently run by SBS Transit, with three new routes to be added.

Under the Government contracting model, buses and infrastructure are owned by the Government while the operator is in charge of running the routes and meeting specified service standards.

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