1. Three new City Direct bus services
will begin operations in May and June 2014, linking the heartlands
to the Central Business District (CBD). They are:
a. Eunos City Direct Service (CDS) 658 to be launched
on 19 May 2014;
b. Bedok CDS 659 to be launched on 9 June 2014;
and
c. Hougang CDS 660 to be launched on 23 June
2014
2. All three bus services will start
operations with two one-way trips to the CBD on weekday mornings
and two one-way return trips in the evenings, excluding public
holidays. More trips may be added depending on the demand for these
services. With fewer stops and the use of expressways, journey
times will be comparable to that of taking a bus and transferring
to the MRT into the city.
3. These three CDS will be operated
by Aedge Holdings Pte Ltd as part of the Bus Service Enhancement
Programme (BSEP) to tap on the resources of private bus operators
(PBOs) to augment those of the public transport operators
(PTOs).
4. From 19 May, commuters travelling
from Eunos to the CBD on weekday mornings will be served by City
Direct Service 658. This bus service will ply Bedok Reservoir Road,
Kaki Bukit Avenue 1, Jalan Damai, and Jalan Eunos before taking the
Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and the East Coast Parkway (ECP) to get
to the CBD. On weekday evenings, the service will connect commuters
from Anson Road, Robinson Road and Marina Boulevard back to
Eunos.
5. On 9 June, City Direct Service 659
will ply from Bedok South Road, Bedok South Avenue 3, New Upper
Changi Road, Bedok North Road, Bedok North Avenue 2 and Bedok North
Street 3 before heading towards Central Boulevard and Shenton Way
via the PIE and the ECP. Similarly, it will bring commuters back to
the Bedok housing estates on weekday evenings.
6. City Direct Service 660 from
Hougang will begin operation on 23 June 2014. On weekday mornings,
it will ply Buangkok Green, Hougang Street 91, Hougang Avenue 4 and
Avenue 8 towards Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 before heading to the CBD via
the Central Expressway (CTE) during the morning peak. On weekday
evenings, it will bring commuters back to the Hougang
neighbourhood.
* Of the 14 parallel bus services
introduced under BSEP, 4 are operated by the PTOs1 and
10 are operated by the PBOs2 as City Direct services through
competitive tenders. The tendering process allows the most
cost-efficient operators to win the rights to operate the services.
Successful operators will have to apply for bus service licences
from the Public Transport Council (PTC), which regulates bus
services.
Annex: Posters of
City Direct Bus Services 658, 659 and
660
source: LTA website
If 513E was not DD, SBST would have to add extra bus as well
like SMRT have had to do.
