Singapore faces shortage of bus drivers: PTC

QX179R SG

Singapore faces a shortage of bus drivers, the Public Transport Council (PTC) said on Wednesday.

Unless transport operators can attract more recruits, they may not be able to put enough buses on the roads, said PTC chairman Gerard Ee. 'Finding enough bus captains is a challenge,' he added.

About 30 per cent of the 1,900 bus drivers employed by SMRT are from Malaysia or China. 'As Singaporeans are becoming better qualified with higher career aspirations, it has become increasingly difficult to attract them to become service leaders,' said an SMRT spokesman.

The transport operator has organised recruitment drives in Singapore and abroad. It is also working with agencies such as the community development councils and National Trades Union Congress to help spread the net wider.

-- ST

lemon1974 SG

there are many ppl who dun like the PRC drivers.. say why must hire PRC drivers.. Why dun pay more to hire Singaporeans drivers.. But how much more to pay to hire Singaporeans drivers? S$4000/month? then who is going to pay for the increase in salary etc? When the fare is raised by 1 cents or 2 cents, ppl complain and yet they want to see more singaporeans drivers...and more new buses, but not willing to pay higher fares of 1ct or 2 ct?

Who will want to wake up everyday at 3am to go to the bus depot to start work at 5am? or do the PM shift and got home at 2am everyday?

There are certain ppl who will become bus drivers if pay is increased (but who is going to bear the cost?) but a lot more will resist to become bus drivers, because, of small issue, they will get complains... bus too slow --> complain, bus too fast --> complain...tiny tiny issues---> complain....

if SBST is willing to pay S$4000per month, sure got many ppl go drive the buses.. but how is SBST going to pay for the additional salary? Imagine 1 driver S$1000/month more, x 3000 drivers = S$3 million in additional wages per month.... who will pay for it? Govt?

dragg SG

i wonder if it is really true singaporeans dont want to be bus drivers.

are there plenty of better paying jobs available to these people?

they would rather sit around and do nothing than be one?

so which is it?

carbikebus SG

Majority Singaporeans want at least 2 days off weekly,SBST roster is stressful,Beside long hours they only get a day off weekly.If fall on Sundays then following Monday will be off day too but that have to wait for nearly a month plus.More Singaporean SL join SMRT due to its rotating 2 days off weekly.So SBST should make more attractive off days in order to attract more locals to join,$ is more to secondary issue.I mean if starting basic pay is around $1500-2000 depending on class of licence then I forsee many locals will join

sbst275 SG

i wonder if it is really true singaporeans dont want to be bus drivers.

are there plenty of better paying jobs available to these people?

they would rather sit around and do nothing than be one?

so which is it?

shift work

sbst275 SG

But problem is SBST gotta tar all the plying of main infrastructure i.e. Poly, Uni (bao gar liao), Changi Airport (Except 858), cross border (main bulk of biz is still w/ 170, 170X)...

Unless more drivers join, it's kinda chicken n egg problem.

carbikebus SG

Problem with SBST many locals come n go,out of 20 locals sure 16 go after 6 mth ceuse they can't cope with the rostering and the off day itself unlike SMRT which practice 2 days off per week

carbikebus SG

Problem with SBST many locals come n go,out of 20 locals sure 16 go after 6 mth ceuse they can't cope with the rostering and the off day itself unlike SMRT which practice 2 days off per week

160/170x priority is Malaysian or at least PR ditto for 950.Seriously before I left both SBST and SMRT they've brief and interview me about this issue before

wsy1234 SG

who is going to pay the salary of the driver? don't blame if the bus fare increase. But again sbst should reorganize the way how the driver works. maybe by having at least 3 off days and 3 shift works from 5am to 12pm and 12pm to 7pm and 7pm to 2am. and after 2 years of works increase salary by 20 percent plus offering company share and yearly 1 to 3 month bonuse.

sbst275 SG

Like I've said, it's really chicken n egg problem.. Until you can get more drivers, only then the crunch can be solved.

Anyway, it's true 160, 170 & 170X are given to M'sian, but their shift is pretty long...

From wat I know, some places is 5 day work, 1 day off also...

SBS3688Y SG

Who will want to wake up everyday at 3am to go to the bus depot to start work at 5am? or do the PM shift and got home at 2am everyday?

provide more off days for bus captains (esp SBST), just like what carbikebus has mentioned.

buy more double-deckers to increase productivity wherever feasible. for example only, a realitive busy route using 30 buses with average 5min interval. if double-deckers are used, can reduce to say 23 buses with 8min interval?

tax all car owners of say $80 per month. This money collected will be used to subsidize public transport and help pay for salary increment of bus captains to attract more to join, while maintaining affordable fares.

QX179R SG

With Singaporeans reluctant to take up jobs as bus drivers, operators SBS Transit and SMRT are increasingly turning to Malaysia and China to plug the gap. The crunch comes at a time when both companies have expanded their fleets and bus ridership has gone up to 3.45 million a day last year, a jump of 12 per cent from 2008.

The problem has been noted by the Public Transport Council (PTC), which said on Wednesday that Singapore faces a shortage of bus drivers. Unless transport operators can attract more recruits, they may not be able to put enough buses on the roads, said PTC chairman Gerard Ee.

SBS Transit, Singapore's biggest bus operator, has said it is short by about 180 drivers, even as it and SMRT have not let up on recruitment drives.

SBS Transit currently has more than 5,300 bus drivers, of whom only 61 per cent are Singaporeans and permanent residents. Some 26 per cent are Malaysians, and the rest are from China.

-- ST

phillipC SG

Using more high capacity (DD, Bendy) buses will help? Meaning One driver carry more passengers. SMRT MAN engines are good but carry less passenger, will not help.

Jacky Woo SG

who want to drive buses when you work for 12 hours every day. 6 days a week, plus the pay is low.

Chauffeur SG

Greetings from Germany.

If anyone from HR of SBST or SMRT is reading this:

I've been working as a bus driver for more than 10 years now, I have lots of experience with three-axle double deckers and articulated buses.

I'd be very happy if I could work as a Bus Captain in Singapore! I've been to Singapore as recently as March 2011, and yes - I'd like to live there permanently!

I've applied twice for a position as Bus Captain via SBST's online form, and my application was declined twice. A friend of mine in Singapore told me that he couldn't imagine SBST would hire Europeans as Bus Captains ...

If there really is such a shortage of Bus Captains, maybe SBST and SMRT should reconsider their positions towards hiring someone from Germany.

Singapore, here I come again ...

(P.S. Just reply to this thread, and I'll get in touch, via phone or e-mail.)

wsy1234 SG

wow a European wnat to drive Singapore public bus, I think is a very good idea. It much better then those from china, not even know english and some time rule to customer and other user on the road. But working in singapore you must know how to speak chinese and maybe malay is the advanage. SBST has many Citaro new bus from Germany. And SMRT has many MAN new buses

wsy1234 SG

Maybe SBST and SMRT should look into Euro for man power to help as many people there are jobless.

nfshp253 SG

Maybe SBST and SMRT can look to hire drivers from Eastern European countries instead of only from China. Maybe Greek and Italians because of the state of their economy? And Italians are notorious for driving too fast and being reckless. Imagine the fun! Lol. I guess most of them can speak English, albeit with a very thick accent. Might be interesting though.

lce SG

Who will want to wake up everyday at 3am to go to the bus depot to start work at 5am? or do the PM shift and got home at 2am everyday?

alamak, u need 2 hrs to wake up n get to work? either u r fukin slow or your journey is takin too much time

wat is sbst annual profit? why cunt share with the employee?

wat gud is PUBLIC TRANSPORT if it cannot be affordable n efficient

lemon1974 SG

Bro. U think the bc live in the bus depot is it ? Wake up 3am. Prepare eat breakfast. Go out 3.30am have to wait for the employee bus to come. U think the employee bus come every 5 min is it ? Need time to wait n travel to depot. Still have to take the bus from depot n drive to interchange to start the shift. All these no need take time ? Interchange also not just beside the depot. Look at sv170. Still have to drive all the way from depot to jb at 4am plus ?

Then u go become bus captain lah since u no need take 2 hours to start the shift.