SINGAPORE - A double-deck bus with three doors hit the road on Monday (March 13), as part of a trial by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to evaluate the suitability of such a bus design for Singapore's use.

Unlike other double-deckers used here, the prototype bus will have a third door, and two staircases to facilitate the flow of commuters.

The sole bus, designed by ST Kinetics, will be tested on service 143, which is operated by Tower Transit Singapore.

The LTA said on Monday that a single-deck bus with three doors will also be tested with operator SMRT from the second quarter of this year.

LTA's group director of public transport Yeo Teck Guan said: "Deploying the three-door buses will allow us to study this concept further by observing commuter flow and how the bus adapts to the existing infrastructure.

"The review of public bus design is a key part of making public transport a choice mode of transport as we move towards a car-lite society."

Besides having three doors, the buses will feature other friendly features such as a passenger information display system, USB ports and wheelchair space.

The trial will be for six months, said the LTA.