Starting pay of local bus drivers to rise by $450 from Jan 2027; average monthly pay could cross $4k

SINGAPORE – To attract more locals to the profession, the Government will fund a $450 monthly salary increase for new Singaporean and permanent resident bus drivers from January 2027, along with an additional $2,000 in sign-on bonuses.

This will effectively increase the average monthly pay for new public bus drivers from about $3,600 now to more than $4,000, after including overtime pay and allowances.

Existing bus drivers will get a one-time pay bump to ensure fairness, boost retention, and recognise their hard work, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on June 3 in a joint statement with the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) and four public bus operators.

The statement did not give details of the one-time pay adjustment, which will be funded by the four operators: Go-Ahead Singapore, SBS Transit, SMRT Buses and Tower Transit Singapore.

The move by the Government comes amid difficulties in attracting and retaining new drivers as the existing workforce ages and the number of bus routes has increased.

An LTA spokesperson said the Government will fund this round of pay increases for new local drivers until each bus package is re-tendered or renewed.

There are 14 bus packages, and operators that win the tender for a package are paid a fixed fee to operate the services within it.

Operators are expected to consider the higher starting pay as part of future bids, including any further adjustments agreed with NTWU to ensure wages remain competitive, the spokesperson said.

LTA also said the increments were derived by benchmarking the salaries of bus drivers against national wage data and comparable roles in other industries in the country.

“Based on relevant benchmarks, we assessed the compensation levels needed to attract and retain locals, including mid-career entrants who may currently earn higher salaries,” it said.

More bus drivers are needed as the authorities improve the bus network under the $900 million Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme, which entails rolling out new bus services, deploying express feeder buses and extending bus routes, among other measures.

Since the programme was launched in July 2024, 33 bus routes have been introduced or extended, with changes made to more than 60 existing bus services.

In a social media post, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow noted that the median age of local bus drivers is 56, with many due to retire in the coming years.

“Even just to sustain the current levels of service, we will need to recruit many more new drivers,” he said, adding this was why starting salaries and sign-on bonuses will be increased to attract more locals to join the profession.

Siow noted that a larger pool of drivers will also allow the operators to improve working conditions and make bus driving a more sustainable career.

He had in February highlighted the challenges of recruiting local bus drivers, saying then that more has to be done to make the job more attractive, including potential adjustments to salaries.

During the debate on the Transport Ministry’s budget in March, Siow said the authorities were in discussions with bus operators and the NTWU to raise salaries as well as improve working conditions and career progression.

LTA said the public transport operators have periodically adjusted the starting salaries of bus drivers. The average starting gross pay for local bus drivers has risen from about $2,000 in 2012 to $3,600 in 2026.

A Tower Transit Singapore spokesman said basic salaries for its local bus drivers would range from $2,360 for new joiners to $4,152 for those in more senior positions, without accounting for overtime pay and allowances. The operator currently employs about 1,600 bus drivers.

SBS Transit will increase the monthly gross salaries of its 5,400 drivers by up to $250, depending on rank, seniority, performance, and other individual wage components, said spokeswoman Grace Wu.

Go-Ahead and SMRT will also be increasing its existing bus drivers’ salaries by between $150 and $250 from January 2027. Go-Ahead currently has more than 1,600 bus drivers, while SMRT has about 2,200.

In the joint statement, the authorities and operators noted that the sector loses two bus drivers to resignation or retirement for every new local recruit.

Over the years, the percentage of local bus drivers has also fallen from 54 per cent in 2021 to 41 per cent in 2025.

There were about 9,900 bus drivers in Singapore as at March 2026.

NTWU executive secretary Yeo Wan Ling told ST that the increments come after years of advocacy by the union.

“It marks a very important step to improving the attractiveness and sustainability of a profession that keeps Singapore moving every day,” said Yeo, who is also an MP for Punggol GRC.

The increment that existing bus drivers will get is the same across all four operators, owing to the need for parity, she said. However, individual operators will likely have their own incentives, she added.

According to the operators’ websites, SBS Transit is currently offering a sign-on bonus with training incentives, up to $25,000 for local bus drivers; and SMRT is offering a bonus of up to $30,000, with an additional $3,000 for those who join between April and June.

Go-Ahead offers a sign-on bonus of up to $20,000, while Tower Transit Singapore’s sign-on bonus is set at $10,000.

Beyond salaries, however, Yeo stressed that it is also important to improve job conditions for bus drivers.

She said: “A bus captain’s role is physically and mentally demanding. Currently, we have a situation where we don’t have enough bus captains, leading to longer working hours and shorter rest times.

“If this works well (in attracting more people), we might be able to provide better welfare for our workers.”

Associate professor Walter Theseira noted that bus driver salaries are higher only after accounting for allowances and overtime, and the industry expectation is for drivers to be working overtime perpetually due to manpower shortages.

This is not conducive for work-life balance, said the transport economist at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, adding that the earnings of bus drivers should be higher than private-hire drivers to attract people to join the industry.

“There’s no way that being a private-hire driver takes more skill than driving a public bus,” he said.

“A potential bus driver would be aware of this, and if they’re not convinced of the benefits, then they can just choose not to drive a bus.”