SINGAPORE - Public buses have been an integral part of Mr Tang Jing Herng’s life since he was in primary school, when he would ride on them daily.

The 24-year-old had been hoping to one day help improve public transport services here, and in May, he started on a project that could do just that.

Six months of hard work later, the third-year student at the Singapore Institute of Technology produced a miniature car with an attached camera that can help bus technicians check the undercarriages of buses without being put at risk.

Bus technicians can control the car with their phones and view undercarriages on their screen.

On Saturday, he clinched the top prize of $5,000 in the newly introduced institutes of higher learning category of the Singapore BusTech Grand Challenge, beating 28 students from five other institutions.

Jointly organised by the Singapore Bus Academy and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), the second iteration of the challenge, which sees bus technicians pitting their skills against one another, was held at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.

For student participants, they had to either create a device to help bus technicians inspect bus undercarriages, or come up with a prototype to improve the testing of air-conditioning systems on buses.

Mr Tang, who is pursuing a degree in telematics – a technology to track data of vehicles in real time, said: “It was very challenging working on this by myself, especially since I was juggling an internship as well, and only had time to work on my entry late at night.

“But I think it really taught me the value of time management and perseverance. And I hope to further improve on my idea so that it can be widely adopted.”

Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Chee Hong Tat, who was the guest of honour at the competition, described the creativity and passion of the competing students as heartening.

“These are the attributes we need from our people to build a cleaner and better public transport system for the future,” he said.

Mr Chee also commended the efforts of bus technicians, who are integral in ensuring that public buses run smoothly.

Sixteen bus technicians, split into eight teams, with two pairs representing each of the four public bus operators – Go-Ahead Singapore, SBS Transit, SMRT Buses and Tower Transit Singapore – competed in the challenge.

Teams underwent two days of assessment, where they pit their skills and knowledge to solve problems related to their work.

“It wasn’t extremely difficult because all the challenges were things we face on a daily basis at work,” said Mr Ling Gar Seng, 25, from SBS Transit.

He and his colleague, Mr Loke Sai Kat, 33, won the top prize of $10,000.