Go-Ahead eyes Seletar routes, hopes to grow in Singapore
Go-Ahead Singapore buses parked inside the maintainence bay at Loyang Bus Depot. Photo: Robin Choo/TODAY
SINGAPORE — UK-based bus operator Go-Ahead is keen on expanding its footprint here, and will bid for the latest package of bus routes in Seletar, said managing director Nigel Wood, as the bus operator on Thursday (June 16) offered an update on its recruitment drive for its maiden operations here.
Go-Ahead Singapore became the second foreign bus operator in Singapore after winning the bid for the Loyang bus package, which will be launched in September.
“At the moment, we’re concentrating on starting up operations ... but Go-Ahead Singapore intends to stay and grow,” said Mr Wood. It will look into “all aspects of commercial work” in transport to expand its portfolio in Singapore and the Asia market. With the company’s experience in rail and bus, it is interested in the possibility of rail franchises, he added.
He also said that he expected price to be an important factor in the bid for the Seletar package, as there “were a number of quality bidders” in the previous tender. Mr Wood was speaking at a preview of the Loyang Bus Depot, where he also let on that 93 per cent of the 700 bus captains the operator needs have been hired. Of these, 350 are employees of SBS Transit — which currently runs 22 of the Loyang package routes — who will move over when Go-Ahead begins operations.
Of the other 305 bus captains, 181 are new to the bus driving industry. Sixty per cent of its bus captains are Singaporeans and permanent residents, and their median age is 47.
Go-Ahead Singapore won the Loyang bus package in November last year, under the new government contracting model. Mr Wood said that bus services in Singapore are “really good” but there was room for improvement in reliability, citing problems like bus bunching and long waiting times.
As a former bus captain himself, Mr Wood said bus captains would be an important source of feedback for operations at Go-Ahead. “If a certain route has a problem and passengers are complaining, I then talk to the bus captain. They drive the route, they understand,” he said.
When Go-Ahead buses start plying the roads, Mr Wood intends to convert his driver’s licence and hit the roads himself, just as he did in London, to understand the issues facing bus captains. “You will see me driving a bus on the streets of Singapore, in time,” he said.
