Five new bus services will be rolled out from the third quarter of next year to ferry residents from housing estates to MRT stations during peak periods.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) called a tender on Monday for private bus operators to run these peak period short services in Choa Chu Kang, Pasir Ris and Tampines.

The services will overlay the existing feeder bus services 291, 293, 307, 358 and 359, and add at least five more bus trips per hour on weekday mornings and evenings to ease the crowding and reduce waiting times during peak hours.

This brings the number of these forthcoming short bus services to 10. The LTA had earlier called a tender for five of these services. In March, the Transport Ministry had announced plans to tap private bus operators to improve the bus network.