The City Shuttle Service was a network of bus services operated in Singapore between May 1975 and April 2007 by NTUC Comfort and Singapore Shuttle Bus.

History

The City Shuttle Service (CSS) was an initiative introduced on 16 May 1975 by the Singapore government, as part of a

park & ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...

scheme aimed at reducing

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

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 A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

(CBD). Eleven inaugural services commenced operations by with NTUC Comfort operating four (1, 4, 6, 11) and Singapore Shuttle Bus (SSB) seven (2, 3, 5, 7-10), which plied between 16 fringe car parks, 7 city area termini and 49 selected bus stops with 88 25-30 seater single door

Mercedes-Benz buses Mercedes-Benz has been producing buses since 1895 in Mannheim in Germany. Since 1995 Mercedes-Benz buses and coaches is a brand of EvoBus GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck. Heritage The world's first motorised bus was built in G ...

. 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 that extended into the housing estates and had reduced to nine services (six services operated by SSB and the three by NTUC Comfort). As the purpose of the CSS scheme was to serve working commuters, no services were operated on Sundays and public holidays. The bus services that extended towards the housing estates in 1976 are as follows: *1: Extended from

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Carpark E and Holland Road Fringe Carpark to Queensway and Marine Terrace *2: Extended from Holland Road Fringe Carpark to Holland Drive *3: Extended from Chancery Lane Fringe Carpark to St Michael's *4: Diverted to terminate at Marine Terrace and extended to

New Bridge Road New Bridge Road (; ms, Jalan Jambatan Baharu) is a major one-way road located within the Central Area in Singapore. New Bridge Road starts at the Coleman Bridge to the south of the Singapore River and extends into Chinatown within the Outra ...

*5: Extended from Whitley Road Fringe Carpark to Sin Ming *6: Extended from Serangoon Road Fringe Carpark and

Outram Park Outram is a planning area located within the Central Area of the Central Region of Singapore. The area is bordered by these planning areas: Singapore River to the north, the Downtown Core to the east and south, and Bukit Merah to the west. O ...

Bukit Merah Bukit Merah, also known as Redhill, is a planning area and new town situated in the southernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. the planning area borders Tanglin to the north, Queenstown to the west and the Downtown Core, Outram an ...

and Circuit Road *7: Extended from Kampong Java Fringe Carpark to St Michael's *8: Extended from National Stadium Carpark E to Bedok South and

Bedok Bedok () is a planning area and matured residential town located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah along the south-eastern coast of the East Region of Singapore. Bedok is bounded by five other planning areas: Paya Lebar to the north, ...

*9: Extended from Serangoon Road Fringe Carpark to Geylang Lorong 1 On 25 June 1988, NTUC Comfort withdrew routes 1 and 4, citing a decline in commuter demand due to the MRT's opening. Its remaining service (route 6) ran until 1990, when the buses used reached the end of their permitted lifespans. The initial fleet was replaced with larger

DAF SB220 The DAF SB220 was a full-size single-decker bus chassis produced by DAF Bus International from 1985. Initially only built in left hand drive, in 1988 a right hand drive version was launched for the United Kingdom market. An articulated vers ...

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, SSB was purchased by Trans-Island Bus Services, which was rebranded

SMRT Buses SMRT Buses is a bus operator in Singapore. A subsidiary of SMRT Corporation, it traded as Trans Island Bus Services until 10 May 2004. History Trans-Island Bus Services (1983–2004) In April 1981, Communications & Labour Minister Ong Teng Ch ...

in 2004. SSB provided public transport from the housing estates to the CBD areas. Services operated from interchanges and terminals like the

and

bus interchanges as well as the Holland Drive, St Michael's and Sin Ming Road bus terminals. The services operated from 06:00 to 19:30 and did not operate on Sundays and public holidays. These services were renumbered into "6xx" in 1997 with the introduction of standardised numbering system. With the closure of Holland Drive Terminal in 1998, CSS 602 was re-routed to start from

Shenton Way Shenton Way is a major trunk road serving Singapore's Central Area and is most commonly known for the commercial skyscrapers flanking both sides of the road. The road is a one-way street that starts at the junction of Boon Tat Street, Raffles Qua ...

Terminal, looping at Holland Drive. SSB's only bus depot was at Lorong 1 Geylang (GLDEP). The central workshop was at Ang Mo Kio Depot 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 non air-conditioned buses were retired. Prior to the withdrawal of route 608, it was the last of the Nissan Diesel U31RCN buses to pass by the old National Stadium, Maxwell Road as well as the old Supreme Court Building. The bus fleet was downsized in the last three years of its service until its withdrawal. The last CSS service, 608, was initially slated to be withdrawn on 30 March 2007. However, due to public appeals, the withdrawal date was delayed to 28 April 2007.

Demise

During the SARS period between 2003 and 2004, CSS withdrew 3 services; 603, 605 and 607, leaving 608 as a standalone service. The older DAF SB220 buses were exported overseas and was later used in New Zealand, leaving the Nissan buses in the 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. Singapore Shuttle Bus became liquidated, all of its drivers were transferred to SMRT or its subsidiaries.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Bus routes Bus transport in Singapore 1975 establishments in Singapore 2007 disestablishments in Singapore