It was LTA who forced SMRT with all this drastic changes.
Imagine if the rules were still relax as before, do you think SMRT
would have make this changes? With the new rules in place, SMRT's
position is vulnerable now. They know that if they don't do
anything, their control of the buses will be in jeopardy now that
the goverment allows the 3rd bus company to join in the
monopoly.
Reply to Off_Service
TIBS make a mistake in buying those buses but they wanted to
sell them off, who stop them? SMRT.
Anyway, I do agree that they(SMRT) should be reviewed again
after all their new buses come in. Frequency of buses and
cleanliness of the buses and other aspects of services. I
still don't get it why is 173 in the control of WLs. Some of
these decisions are bizarre. For the sake of Singapore
transport, let's hope SMRT do indeed improve their service
overall.
Even with the new rules, it doesnt state that the new buses must
be Euro V or from Mercedes Benz. Hence why did SMRT buy MB buses in
the end? I'm not sure about SBST tho, but i knew that SMRT did a
survey with their SLs about what bus brand is their ideal bus
brand. MB got the win.
Anw, my answer would be 2 & 3 
