ST Engineering announced that its Urban Solutions business has secured various contracts totalling over $175m from Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) to modernise Singapore’s public bus fleet and operations. The scope for these contracts comprises technology upgrades for the fleet management system, fare collection as well as power and communications systems. Covering approximately 5,800 public buses, the bus infrastructure modernisation exercise will be implemented progressively from the second quarter of 2024 and completed by 2027.
Collectively, the upgrades will be integral to improving operational efficiencies for LTA and public transport operators (PTOs), translating into improved service and travel experience for bus commuters.
Leveraging advanced technology to improve service reliability
• New Bus Fleet Management System (BFMS)
The new BFMS will employ advanced technology to enhance centralised fleet monitoring and management of bus service operations island-wide. It will aid incident management decision-making and provide information to the public transport operators to better manage bus service reliability and capacity provision. The new BFMS will also be integrated with electric bus and charging infrastructure monitoring capabilities to support Singapore’s transition to a cleaner energy public bus fleet. Additionally, the move to a cloud-based architecture will enable greater agility, scalability and reliability in future software enhancements for the BFMS.
• New fare collection equipment
The fare collection equipment onboard buses will be upgraded to leverage the advantages of a 5G network and enable faster fare transactions for commuters. In addition, a single unified display combining both fare collection and fleet management applications will replace the two separate displays currently used by the bus captains. The integrated interface will improve operational efficiency and allow the bus captains to sharpen their focus on road safety.
• New power and communications systems
New central junction boxes will be installed on the buses to improve power and signal distribution, while a new onboard 5G-enabled bus transmitter system will allow faster and more reliable data exchanges between the buses and the backend systems.
“Our expertise in advanced fleet management and fare collection systems, along with our proven track record in major transportation projects, positions us well for this infrastructure modernisation initiative,” said Chew Men Leong, President, Urban Solutions, ST Engineering. “The technology upgrade will not only enhance system connectivity and functionality that benefits commuters and the transport ecosystem but will also pave the way for future innovations in commuter travel.”
ST Engineering Urban Solutions has been the technology provider for Singapore’s bus fleet management system since 2014, together with public transport solutions provider Trapeze Group as its consortium partner. These contracts further expand ST Engineering Urban Solutions’ track record of equipping over 90 cities worldwide with integrated Smart Mobility solutions to optimise operational efficiency for transport authorities and enhance travel experience for commuters.
