First express feeder bus service 298X to start on Dec 9 in Tampines

SINGAPORE – A first-of-its-kind express feeder bus service will ply the roads in Tampines from Dec 9, allowing residents to get to the town centre and major transport nodes like Tampines MRT station faster, with the bus calling at fewer stops.

Service 298X will act as a supplementary service to feeder service 298, which serves residents of Tampines North, Tampines Central and Tampines West.

Public transport operator SBS Transit (SBST), which will run the new express feeder service, said on Nov 18 that 298X will provide faster connections by serving only selected bus stops along the regular route of its parent service.

According to SBST, the new service will operate only during peak hours, from 6.30am to 10am, and 4pm to 7.30pm on weekdays, except on public holidays.

Regular feeder service fares will apply.

In response to queries, SBST said it will deploy seven buses for the new 298X service, which will operate at a frequency of 10 to 12 minutes.

Like 298, 298X will be a loop service that starts and ends at Tampines North bus interchange. However, 298X will call at only 15 stops in between, compared with 36 stops for service 298.

According to SBST’s route map, 298X will call at the bus stop opposite Block 648A, and bus stops at Block 641A and Block 637B – the same as 298.

But 298X will then skip three stops to get to the bus stop after Exit E of Tampines MRT station via Tampines Avenue 7.

It then travels directly to the stop opposite Tampines bus interchange, before heading straight to Block 871C via Tampines Avenue 5, skipping another seven stops in the process.

In Tampines West, 298X will call at stops in Tampines Street 86 and at the stop opposite the Tropica condominium, before heading back directly to Tampines Central, and then back to Tampines North, with a few more stops along the way.

A round trip for 298X will take 56 minutes, SBST said. This is about 20 minutes shorter than the regular 298 feeder service.

Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, who is an MP for Tampines GRC, said on Facebook on Nov 18 that the new express feeder service will make daily commutes more efficient for residents.

“With fewer intermediate stops, this new service will reduce travel times and improve connectivity across the neighbourhood,” he added.

The idea for such express feeder services was mooted in July as part of improvements that will be made to the public bus network under the

$900 million Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme.

More are in the pipeline, with the Land Transport Authority saying at the time that it would progressively identify and introduce more bus service enhancements in the coming months.

Tampines residents whom The Straits Times spoke to said they expect the new express feeder service to cut travel time.

But some wish the new service would also operate on weekends, or during off-peak periods.

Others hope the service would call at bus stops closer to their estates, or that similar express services would be introduced where they live.

Ms Valerie Koh, who lives in a condominium in Tampines Street 86, said it usually takes her about 20 minutes to travel to the MRT station with service 298 as the bus has to make seven stops along the way.

With 298X, this will be cut to two stops, said the 34-year-old, who works in public relations.

For Mr Wang Hengyue, 20, one concern is that slow traffic in Tampines Concourse may become a bottleneck for the new express service.

While 298X will not directly benefit the full-time national serviceman as it skips the bus stop closest to his home, he hopes the buses for the regular 298 service will become less crowded as more people take the new express service.

Ms Gina Foo, 33, another Tampines West resident, said taking 298X will allow her to travel to Tampines Central with no stops in between. “If I need to get to Tampines MRT station, this will definitely benefit me a lot,” the communications professional added.