Veteran bus driver knows 52 routes by heart; long-time passengers treat him like family

SINGAPORE – With 25 years behind the wheel, public bus driver Abdul Lathiff Mohamed Rafi has memorised the routes of 52 bus services.

These include service 57 from Bukit Merah interchange to Bishan interchange, and service 65 from Tampines interchange to HarbourFront interchange.

The 52-year-old veteran is one of eight chief bus captains at Singapore’s largest public bus operator SBS Transit (SBST), which employs 5,400 bus drivers.

He is now part of a reserve pool of drivers based at Ulu Pandan Bus Depot, who can be called on to operate any route at short notice, such as when colleagues call in sick or urgently need time off. He also mentors other bus captains.

Mr Rafi joined SBST at the age of 27, and rose through the ranks. He was promoted to chief bus captain in 2024.

In the decades that he has been a bus driver, including eight years each on bus services 93 and 65, Mr Rafi has watched the children of his regular passengers grow up. “From kids, now they are all grown up,” he said.

Some of his long-time passengers have come to treat him like family. One of them even invited Mr Rafi to his son’s wedding in 2015, and a housewarming party the following year.

“I’m very happy and touched,” Mr Rafi told The Straits Times. “Usually, passengers just wave and greet me when they board the bus, but he went beyond to invite me to share in his family’s happiness. It really means a lot to me as a bus captain to be appreciated.”

This Chinese New Year, “some aunties... (were) looking for me to give hongbao”, Mr Rafi said with a laugh. “These are the things that make me very happy as a bus captain.”

ST was invited to follow Mr Rafi on Feb 6 on his first trip of the day, operating bus service 57 from Bukit Merah interchange to Bishan interchange.

The bus left Bukit Merah interchange at about 5.45am, and arrived at its destination about an hour and 20 minutes later.

Mr Rafi said the main challenge of driving a bus is that it is “a one-man show”, though drivers are supported by the control centre at the press of a button.

Safety is a top concern as drivers face challenges such as fatigue and distraction.

A task force, formed to scrutinise the safety of public buses following a spate of accidents, will complete its review in the first half of 2025.

When asked how bus safety has changed from the 2000s, Mr Rafi said without hesitation: “Technology.”

He cited the Golden Eye, a fatigue monitoring system that sends audio and visual alerts to the driver if it detects signs of fatigue or distraction. It can also produce seat vibrations powered by 24 volts.

On teaching new bus drivers about safety, Mr Rafi said he shows, rather than tells, them.

“I ask them to sit down, watch my driving. Whenever I am turning left or right, approaching a junction, I will tell them (what) are the places (to watch out for),” Mr Rafi said.

He also gave feedback to the task force, including a suggestion to have additional buffer time in a bus service’s total run time, which is the duration it takes to make a single trip.

Having more buffer time would help drivers meet the run time – which is part of their key performance indicators – while abiding by guidelines that require them to wait for pregnant or elderly passengers to be seated before continuing the journey.

With Singapore’s ageing population, the need to wait for elderly passengers to be seated is becoming more common, he said. 

Another challenge is stopping the bus safely.

“It is not easy to brake, as the bus is very heavy. If we brake hard, passengers will fall,” he said.

Mr Rafi has won several awards in his career, including a ⁠National Kindness Award – Transport Gold in 2016 and 2019 for exemplary service and graciousness at work.

In 2019 and 2021, he won the ⁠Excellent Service Award, given out by the Singapore Tourism Board.