City Shuttle Service

City Shuttle Service
Founded Singapore, May 15, 1975 (1975-05-15)
Defunct April 28, 2007 (2007-04-28)
Parent SMRT Corporation

Singapore Shuttle Bus Private Limited was a subsidiary of SMRT Corporation in Singapore that operated bus services under the name of City Shuttle Service (CSS) between 15 May 1975 and 28 April 2007.

History

The City Shuttle Service (CSS) was an initiative introduced on 15 May 1975 by the Singapore Government, which was intended to be part of a Park and Ride scheme aimed at reducing traffic congestion in the city. It was originally hoped that car owners would park at designated car parks and transfer to CSS bus services to enter the Central Business District (CBD). 11 inaugural services commenced operations by NTUC Comfort & Singapore Shuttle Bus (SSB), which plys along the 16 fringe car parks, 7 city area terminus and 49 selected bus stops with around sixty 25-seater single door buses. However, the initial arrangement was not popular with car owners and the scheme was terminated, resulting in the company being allowed to operate regular services to extend towards the housing estates and had reduced to 9 services (6 services were from SSB and the 3 were from NTUC Comfort). As the purpose of the CSS scheme was to service working commuters, no services were operated on Sundays and public holidays. The list of bus services that extends towards the housing estates in 1976 include:

On 25 June 1988, NTUC Comfort, which ran the 3 CSS services from Marine Parade to the city, decided to withdraw 2 services partly due to the high maintenance cost of its buses and a decline in commuter demand due to the MRT's opening. Its buses then ran on its last sole service (CSS Service 6) until 1990, when the buses reached the end of their permitted lifespan.

The initial fleet was replaced with larger DAF SB220 and Nissan Diesel buses. CSS was the first bus operator in Singapore to introduce senior concessionary fares, a scheme that was eventually extended to other bus operators. On 12 March 1987, Singapore Shuttle Bus was purchased by Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS), which therefore follows the company until it was merged into SMRT Buses in 2004.

SSB provided public transport from the housing estates to the CBD areas. Services operated from interchanges and terminals like Bedok & Bt Merah Interchanges and Holland Dr, St. Michael's & Sin Ming Rd Terminals. The services used to operate from 6.30am to 7.30pm and does not operate on Sundays and Public Holidays. The bus services which is under CSS were renumbered into "6xx" in 1997 with the introduction of standardised numbering system. With the closure of Holland Dr Terminal in 1998, CSS 602 was re-routed to start from Shenton Way Terminal and loops at Holland Dr.

SSB’s only bus depot was at Lorong 1 Geylang (GLDEP). The central workshop was at Ang Mo Kio Depot (AMDEP) which handled all the preventive maintenance, repair works and major component overhauls.

On 9 July 2001, during the merger, the company was operating five routes and its depot was based at Lorong 1 Geylang Bus Terminal. In November 2001, the first service, CSS 602 was withdrawn and all the non air-con buses retired.

Some bus stops were once used only by CSS bus services. The Chancery Lane and Balmoral Rd bus stop were used by CSS 603, while the Armenian St (bef Stamford Rd) bus stop was used by CSS 605 and Havelock Road (Blk 29), Maxwell Rd and Marine Cres (Blk 15) bus stop, CSS 608.

Prior to the withdrawal of CSS 608, it was the last of the Nissan Diesel U31RCN buses to pass by the old National Stadium, Maxwell Rd as well as the old Supreme Court Building. The bus fleet was downsized within the last 3 years of its service until its withdrawal on 28 April 2007.

The last CSS service, CSS 608, was initially slated to be withdrawn on 30 March 2007. However, due to public appeals, the withdrawal date was pushed forward to 28 April 2007.

Services

(As of time of withdrawal)

Service no. Route Withdrawal date
602 Shenton Way - Holland Dr (loop) 2001
603 St. Michael's - Upp Cross St (loop) 30 November 2003
605 Sin Ming - Bt Merah 5 September 2004
607 St. Michael's - New Bridge Rd (loop) 2 August 2003
608 Bedok - Bt Merah 28 April 2007

Demise

Greatly improved public transport connections resulted in a fall in ridership numbers at the turn of the millennium. With the withdrawal of CSS Service 605 on 5 September 2004, its existing fleet of CSS buses were being downsized, with the DAF SB 220LT buses awaiting to be exported overseas and was later used in New Zealand, leaving the Nissan buses in its fleet. With the gradual decrease in ridership, some of the Nissan buses with CSS plates were transferred to the SMRT fleet in June 2006. SMRT progressively withdrew CSS routes, ending with the last route, Service 608, on 28 April 2007. The parent company justified this action on the grounds of reduced ridership of up to 40% and lower fares which made it impractical for the CSS scheme to continue.[1]

With the withdrawal of the route, Singapore Shuttle Bus was liquidated. The remaining of the CSS Nissan buses and the sole Dennis Lance (CSS310U) were transferred to SMRT Buses for continued operations, 2 months after its withdrawal of Service 608. All those buses were phased out when SMRT bought Mercedes-Benz OC500LE single deckers.

The space was filled after the withdrawals -

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to City Shuttle Service.
  1. ↑ "Last City Shuttle bus service ends next month", The Straits Times, 21 March 2007
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