On-demand bus services Beeline, GrabShuttle to cease operations on Jan 1 next year
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Mobile app Beeline and shuttle bus service GrabShuttle will be ceasing their operations on Jan 1, 2020.
PHOTOS: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS, KELVIN CHNG
Wong Kai Yi
SINGAPORE - After four years of operation, on-demand bus service Beeline will have its last day of service on Dec 31 and cease operation on Jan 1 next year.
Beeline is a mobile app that lets commuters pre-book rides on express routes operated by private bus operators.
In an announcement on its website, Beeline said although it has "successfully served" commuters, it is ending its service to develop products and services "that can deliver benefits and convenience to more citizens".
Beeline said commuters can continue to book a ride until the last day of service.
The Beeline app on Apple's iOS, Android and mobile web will no longer work past that date.
Beeline said individual operators will work with affected commuters to process refunds for unused passes and tickets, which could take "up to 30 days" depending on bank processes.
Some of Beeline's shuttle bus partners include SMRT-owned Strides, Woodlands Transport and Yeo's Brothers.
Beeline was developed by the then Infocomm Development Authority and Land Transport Authority and launched in August 2015.
In their joint announcement, they described Beeline as an "experiment" to explore how transport networks could be made "more adaptive" based on changing commuter demand.
Beeline's private bus routes are computer-generated by analysing historical travel patterns and crowd-sourced suggestions on the Beeline website.
Beeline open-sourced its code in 2017 in the hope that other developers could use it to create applications and platforms to "help improve transportation in Singapore".
Separately, Grab-owned shuttle bus service GrabShuttle, which is powered by Beeline's service, also announced it will end operations on Jan 1 next year.
On discontinuing its service after more than two years of operations, GrabShuttle said on its website: "This decision will enable us to redirect our efforts into further improving our core transport services to better serve our customers."
As with Beeline, commuters can continue to book a ride on GrabShuttle until Dec 31.
GrabShuttle for School, which is a service aimed at schoolchildren, will also cease operations.
