SINGAPORE - The second tender to operate bus services under a new Government contracting model was called by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Wednesday.

The contract to run a package of 25 bus routes in the Punggol and Pasir Ris areas was put up on the government procurement website GeBIZ on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the winning bidder is expected to run the bus services from the second half of 2016, with about 400 buses, for a start. This will grow to about 500 buses in 2021. The tender closes on Aug 14 this year.

Under the contract, all bus fleets and infrastructure will be owned by the Government, with the operator in charge of running the routes.

The bus services will be operated from Changi Airport Bus Terminal, Changi Village Bus Terminal, Pasir Ris Bus Interchange, and Punggol Bus Interchange. They will be supported by the new Loyang Bus Depot located off Loyang Avenue.

Twenty-two out of the 25 bus routes are existing services operated by SBS Transit, with another three new ones to be announced later.

The new contract is expected to affect some 420 bus workers. In February 2014, a Public Transport Tripartite Committee was formed to safeguard the welfare of bus sector employees during the transition.

A tender for the first bundle of 24 routes in the western part of the island - called the Bulim package - closed in January this year.

There were a total of 11 bidders, with eight being shortlisted so far. They are: Australia's Tower Transit, Australia's Busways, Britain's Go-Ahead, France's Keolis, France's RATP DEV Transdev Asia, SMRT, SBS Transit, and Singapore's Woodlands Transport. Results are expected to be announced in the second quarter of 2015.