ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited 30 Operations Review Singapore Bus be 98% wheelchair-friendly. With more The first tender, known as the “Bulim Bus ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited wheelchair-friendly buses joining the Package”, was called in October 2014. It is the market leader in both the public fleet, it rolled out 20 more wheelchair- drew strong interest with a total of 11 scheduled bus and private coach service accessible bus (WAB) services during the bids, including SBS Transit’s. The results sectors in Singapore. year, bringing the total number of WAB of the tender are expected in the second services to 182. quarter of 2015. Public Scheduled Bus A total of 371 buses under the The Authorities will be inviting tenders Our public-listed scheduled bus Government’s Bus Service Enhancement for two other bus packages with details subsidiary, SBS Transit Ltd, operates a Programme (BSEP) were also rolled out as yet to be released. As for the other nine fleet of 3,448 buses and 255 bus routes at 31 December 2014 – two years ahead bus packages, which comprise 80% of comprising 207 basic bus services, 25 of schedule. Following the completion of the public bus fleet in Singapore, they will premium bus services and 23 niche bus BSEP 1, the Government has announced continue to be operated by the incumbent services. During the year, ridership grew that it will add another 296 buses to SBS bus operators. This means that when by 3.2% to a daily average of 2.75 million Transit’s fleet under BSEP 2, which runs SBS Transit’s Bus Service Operating passenger trips. Significantly, the total from 2015 to 2017. Licence expires on 31 August next year, ridership for 2014 surpassed the one- it will negotiate with the Land Transport billionth mark. The most significant development in the Authority (LTA) to continue to operate Singapore public scheduled bus industry these routes under the contracting model In 2014, SBS Transit took delivery of 465 in 2014 was the Government’s move for about five years. Thereafter, when new buses, representing a growth of 3.7% towards a new contracting system. Under these negotiated contracts expire, these over the previous year. Of its total fleet, the new Bus Contracting Model, operators routes will gradually be tendered out. 41.5% are double deck buses and 84.7% are invited to bid for routes through a are wheelchair accessible. The average competitive tender process. Successful SBS Transit’s popular Intelligent Route age of its fully air-conditioned fleet is bidders will then be contracted and paid Information System or iris app was given now 5.7 years, which is 1.1 years younger to operate public bus services. a facelift in July 2014 to enhance user compared to a year ago. In July 2014, it experience. To-date, this free app has been placed a S$311 million order for 665 new Under the new operating model, the downloaded more than 1.9 million times. buses, comprising 415 double deck buses Government will own all infrastructure and 250 single deck ones, all of which are and operating assets including buses. wheelchair accessible. When delivery is It will, in turn, collect all fare revenue. completed by 2017, SBS Transit’s fleet will Bus • Taxi • Rail • Automotive Engineering Services • Inspection & Testing Services • Driving Centre Car Rental & Leasing • Insurance Broking Services • Outdoor Advertising Annual Report 2014 31 Private Bus Charter Taxi ActiveSG facilities such as gymnasiums The Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, ComfortDelGro Taxis continued to and swimming pools. ComfortDelGro Bus Pte Ltd, is Singapore’s command the lion’s share of the market largest private bus chartering company with a combined fleet of 16,855 Comfort In August 2014, ComfortDelGro Taxis with a fleet of 350 buses, including and CityCab taxis. trialled an in-vehicle smart camera – the buses belonging to sub-contractors. “Mobileye” – in 30 taxis. The “Mobileye” It offers a wide range of bus charter Despite growing competition from detects, analyses and monitors different services, including employee and school independent third party booking apps, road conditions while the taxi is in motion bus services. It also offers overland bus our taxi companies catered a record and provides real-time audio-visual services to West Malaysia, and operates 35.6 million booking jobs in 2014 – 10% warnings via a display unit to taxi drivers. premium bus services, complementing more than 2013. About half of these those offered by SBS Transit. bookings were conducted through the With the remaining Toyota Crown ComfortDelGro taxi booking app, which taxis scrapped by September 2014, ComfortDelGro Bus did well during the has been downloaded 2.6 million times ComfortDelGro Taxis’ entire fleet is now year, increasing its revenue by 9.1% to since it was launched in 2010. Euro 4-compliant or higher. S$22.7 million due to an increase in the number of corporate contracts and The number of cashless payments also In terms of regulatory standards which scheduled bus routes. In April 2014, it increased to 18.8 million in 2014. In March require that 80% of an operator’s fleet began a new Peak Period Short Service 2014, ComfortDelGro Taxis introduced be on the roads for a minimum of 250km from Bedok MRT Station to Chai Chee the “CabRewards Programme” for the first daily, ComfortDelGro Taxis met all Drive, its third scheduled bus route time to reward our passengers with points requirements and consequently became under BSEP. for every cashless payment they make on the only operator allowed to increase its board our taxis. Passengers can use these fleet size by 2% in 2015. ComfortDelGro Bus remained the points to redeem goodies such as taxi preferred bus chartering provider for the vouchers or free transfers to the airport. A Rail National Day Parade, Singapore Armed total of 36,000 passengers have signed up Demand for our rail services remained Forces Day, the Army Open House, the for the programme since it was launched. strong in 2014 with close to 241.5 million Singapore F1 Grand Prix night races, passenger trips made. This is an increase Chingay Parade as well as the Standard In June 2014, ComfortDelGro Taxis of 17.9% over 2013. Chartered Marathon. It also won the partnered the Health Promotion Board contract to provide bus chartering to conduct a 10-month health screening Average daily ridership on the North East services for the 28th Southeast Asian and intervention programme for taxi Line (NEL) grew by 6.7% to 513,266. The Games that will be held in Singapore in drivers. A special health check centre was Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems in Punggol June 2015. set up at the Loyang workshop so that and Sengkang also experienced strong drivers can undergo health screening growth during the year as the estates During the year, ComfortDelGro Bus and health coaching sessions while they matured. A record 31.7 million passenger acquired 49% of the issued shares wait for their taxis to be serviced. Over trips were recorded on the LRTs in 2014, of Phillip Boyle & Associates Pty Ltd, 2,000 taxi drivers have since participated representing an increase of 10.5% over a niche bus planning and scheduling in the programme. As part of the healthy the previous year. In its first full year of consultancy firm based in Melbourne, for lifestyle campaign, drivers have also been service in 2014, the six-station Downtown a consideration of about S$0.5 million. given free access on Wednesdays to Revenue Total Total Operating Total Number (S$’mil) Investment (S$’mil) Fleet Size of Employees 2,399.6 388.5 22,369 11,825 ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited 32 Operations Review Singapore Line 1 (DTL 1) drew an average daily track the status of repairs and assign 415 buses. Its component reconditioning ridership of 61,503. queuing jobs to available technicians. This unit replaced the manual washing of system not only keeps drivers abreast of automotive parts with a customised During the year, the first pair of 18 new the status of the preventive maintenance automated parts washing machine, trains built by French manufacturer, checks in real-time, but it also enables the increasing productivity and throughput Alstom, was delivered to SBS Transit for workshop managers and supervisors to significantly. testing and commissioning. These are better manage resources. Part of the Sin expected to be put into service in August Ming workshop was also converted into a Inspection & Testing Services 2015 while 10 more trains are scheduled maintenance area as well as an exclusive Demand for VICOM Ltd’s inspection for delivery within the year. reception area cum waiting lounge for our and testing services remained strong limousine taxi fleet and drivers. in 2014, thanks to increased marketing In the last quarter of 2014, SBS Transit efforts and persistently high Certificate also commenced planning for a mid- ComfortDelGro Engineering increased its of Entitlement premiums and car prices. life refurbishment of 25 NEL trains. tow truck fleet from 21 to 34 to further In all, about 520,000 vehicles passed The programme, conducted in close improve its response time. These tow through its inspection lanes during the consultation with the manufacturer, will trucks now come equipped with Mobile year. Significantly, VICOM celebrated its involve upgrading or replacing ageing as Data Terminals, similar to those used in 8,888,888th vehicle inspection on 26 well as obsolete equipment. It is expected ComfortDelGro taxis, which enable jobs March 2014 by presenting to the lucky to improve train reliability when it is to be despatched automatically via the vehicle owner a lifetime’s worth of vehicle completed by 2018.