36 ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited 102,000 square metres Ulu Pandan Bus OPERATIONS Depot, which comes with Green features REVIEW such as solar energy and NEWater for non-potable purposes. The Depot has a modern workshop that is equipped with augmented reality (AR) smart goggles for maintenance works, and can cater to 470 buses. It also has an air-conditioned canteen, comfortable rest rooms with free Wi-Fi access and recreational amenities. The Ulu Pandan Depot also houses the Public Transport Industry’s Bus Technical Specialist Certification Centre (BTSCC) to raise professional standards for bus engineering and technical sta$ as part of the LTA’s Singapore Bus Academy. In March 2018, SBS Transit had to shut SINGAPORE down the New Bridge Road Bus Terminal PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICES (BUS & RAIL) / TAXI to make way for developments in the area. Bus operations from this Terminal were AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING SERVICES / INSPECTION & then transferred to a new facility known as TESTING SERVICES / DRIVING CENTRE / CAR RENTAL & the Kampong Bahru Bus Terminal where LEASING / INSURANCE BROKING SERVICES / OUTDOOR it continued to operate the same eight ADVERTISING bus services. Developed by the LTA, this Terminal comes under the Bukit Merah Bus Package. Public Transport Services In all, SBS Transit now operates seven bus depots, one bus park, 17 bus interchanges 2,241.4 ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited is and 14 bus terminals. Revenue (S$’million) a leading provider of public transport services (bus and rail) in Singapore. During the year, SBS Transit rolled out two new services in 2018, which brought Scheduled Bus the total number of bus services that it operated to 222 and SBS Transit remained 18,805 SBS Transit Ltd entered into its third year the largest public bus operator with a Total Operating Fleet Size of operating under the Bus Contracting market share of 61.2%. Model (BCM) in 2018, where the provision of bus services and the corresponding In 2018, SBS Transit took delivery of 289 standards are all determined by the Land buses from the LTA, which increased its Transport Authority (LTA). Under this model, total fleet by about 7% to 3,471. Its fleet 13,823 the Government retains the fare revenue of double deck buses also increased by and owns all infrastructure and operating about 8% or 109 to better cater to bus Total Number of Employees assets such as depots and buses. services with higher demand while its wheelchair accessible buses increased In March 2018, SBS Transit successfully from 96.5% to 98.2%. rolled out the Seletar Bus Package, which was won in 2017. It comprised 26 bus Since December 2018, SBS Transit has been services, 12 of which used to be operated involved in a six-month diesel electric hybrid by another operator. SBS Transit also took bus trial with the LTA. Besides operating over the operations of the new Seletar Bus these buses on selected bus services, Depot, which is a purpose-built facility that SBS Transit also operated autonomous can house up to 530 buses. It continued buses on Jurong Island and Sentosa in to manage the Ang Mo Kio and Yio Chu an on-going trial with ST Engineering. Kang bus interchanges which are part of the Package. In the same month, SBS Transit also operated Singapore’s first On-Demand In November 2018, SBS Transit implemented Public Bus services in a six-month trial its second BCM tendered package – the for the LTA to evaluate the feasibility of Bukit Merah Bus Package – with 18 operating public bus services based on services. It also took over the newly-built real-time commuter demand and along Annual Report 2018 37 dynamic routes. Conducted during o$- the largest acquisitions in the local bus provide bus services for events such as peak hours on weekdays, it involves five charter industry to-date. The deal included the Republic of Singapore Air Force Open of its bus services serving Joo Koon and existing charter contracts, 94 buses and House, Chingay Parade, Istana Garden Marina-Downtown areas. Using a mobile associated drivers. Party, National Day Rally, National Day application (app), commuters can book a Investiture, as well as marathon and ride by requesting to be picked up and Three months later, ComfortDelGro sports activities such as the Standard dropped o$ at any bus stop within the Bus acquired the chartering assets of Chartered Marathon, Yellow Ribbon Run defined areas, even if the bus stops are a second private bus operator, Ric-Tat and OCBC Cycle. currently not served by the same bus Travel & Coach Services Pte Ltd and its service. associated companies for S$6.45 million. On 6 August 2018, ComfortDelGro Bus This acquisition included existing charter launched an on-demand booking mobile More details on our scheduled bus contracts, 72 buses and associated drivers. app – CDG Bus OnDemand – which operations can be found in SBS Transit’s Including sub-contractor’s buses, the guarantees commuters a seat on its buses. 2018 Annual Report. total fleet operated by ComfortDelGro Commuters can make multiple bookings Bus grew to 722 buses during the year. for multiple passengers up to 24 hours in Unscheduled Bus advance, and store regular pick-up and These two acquisitions have further drop-o$ points as “Favourites”. They can The Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, cemented ComfortDelGro Bus’ position also track the status of buses prior to their ComfortDelGro Bus Pte Ltd, operates as Singapore largest private bus charter arrival, and pay for their seats using both employee and school bus charters as well operator. debit and credit cards. as overland bus services to West Malaysia. It also operates premium bus services, and That heavyweight title has helped in Beyond just o$ering private bus charter shuttle bus services for industrial parks, clinching contracts such as the 10- services, ComfortDelGro Bus has also shopping malls, educational institutions year Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd been trialling new technologies. and condominiums. contract to provide bus transportation services in Pulau Bukom. In all, the In November 2018, the ComfortDelGro In 2018, ComfortDelGro Bus expanded Company successfully tendered for 18 new Group embarked on a trial of advanced its fleet through two acquisitions. In contracts, renewed 12 existing ones, and telematics devices in a fleet of 100 vehicles, April 2018, it bought over AZ Bus Pte Ltd continued to provide school bus services including buses and taxis. Data collected for S$10.25 million, in what was one of to seven schools. It also continued to by these solutions will be used to help 38 ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited OPERATIONS REVIEW our drivers, including ComfortDelGro of software and hardware technologies (NEL) also grew by 2.7% to 215.8 million Bus drivers, achieve safer and smarter for its navigation on the roads, without while demand on the Sengkang-Punggol driving habits. any assistance of external infrastructure. LRT (SPLRT) systems increased by 8.9% to 48.0 million in 2018. In December 2018, the Group also To-date, three safety operators and three announced plans to trial an autonomous maintenance sta$ from ComfortDelGro In tandem with the increase in passenger shuttle bus service in real tra;c conditions Engineering Pte Ltd have been trained to demand, more train trips were operated. at the National University of Singapore’s operate and maintain the autonomous A total of 309 weekly trips were added (NUS) Kent Ridge campus – with a shuttle bus. to the schedules of the NEL and DTL view towards a commercial roll-out if while 2,071 weekly trips were added to successful. The year-long autonomous Manpower recruitment remained a key the SPLRT. bus shuttle operational trial, which will challenge. To retain and attract new bus involve Inchcape Singapore and drivers, ComfortDelGro Bus conducted LRT services were enhanced with the Toulouse-based EasyMile Pte Ltd, will a salary adjustment exercise in 2018. As start of bi-directional services on the be carried out using the EasyMile EZ10 a result, more bus drivers were recruited. Punggol West Loop in September 2018. autonomous shuttle that is operated by With this service enhancement, all loops ComfortDelGro Bus. Rail on the SPLRT now operate bi-directional services throughout the day. To-date, all This first-of-its-kind of trial in Singapore For the year under review, demand for SBS 29 stations on the SPLRT are opened for is significant as it will be operating in real Transit’s rail services continued to increase passenger service except for Teck Lee mixed tra;c conditions, alongside regular with close to 428 million passenger trips Station on Punggol West Loop. buses, cars and motorcycles. The shuttle, made in 2018, representing a double-digit which has a total carrying capacity of 15 growth of 20.2% over the previous year. With the three rail lines spanning a passengers, runs entirely on electricity and combined total of 82km, SBS Transit’s benefits from the latest in Autonomous The increase can be attributed largely to market share of the rail network is 36.3%. Vehicle (AV) technology combining the Downtown Line (DTL), which became In all, it operates a total of 78 stations and robotics and artificial intelligence, to fully operational in October 2017. The a fleet of more than 190 trains. operate and navigate on existing roadways ridership on the DTL soared from 101.9 with no additional infrastructure required. million in 2017 to 164.1 million in 2018. In rail reliability, the NEL clocked 1.37 It will also rely on its own internal array Ridership on the 16-station North East Line million train-km in Mean Kilometre Annual Report 2018 39 Between Failure (MKBF) in 2018, which 2018 started o$ with the termination of the WeChat Pay, a very popular payment more than doubled the 663,000 train-km proposed tie-up with Uber Technologies method in China, became available on clocked in 2017 while the DTL clocked Inc, following its exit from Asia.