The story
1973–1978
Singapore Bus Services Limited was established on 1 July 1973 when the regional bus companies Amalgamated Bus Company, Associated Bus Services and United Bus Company (which were in turn results of amalgamations of privately run Chinese bus companies of the 1960s in 1971) agreed to merge their operations with each taking shareholdings of 53%, 19% and 28% respectively in the new company. The government-sanctioned merger was undertaken to improve service standards of the bus transport system.
SBS inherited many problems from its Chinese predecessors, including use of 14 non-standard bus models that frequently broke down, poor standards among the staff and inadequate infrastructure. Hence, the government seconded a Government Team of Officials to SBS in 1974 to overhaul the management and culture. Under the supervision of the GTO, SBS completely overhauled their bus fleet with new buses of usually the Albion Viking or Mercedes-Benz OF1413 makes and introduced a rigorous maintenance regime, improving the reliability of their buses greatly whereas a new disciplinary code was introduced, reducing complaints by half from 1979 to 1983.
In 1977, SBS introduced into service its first double-decker buses, the Leyland Atlantean AN68 on route 86 between Tampines Way and Shenton Way.
In light of dissatisfaction over bus services in the Jurong area and requests for improved coverage, SBS started a reorganisation of bus services across the country, starting with Jurong. This consisted of a network of internal services serving a town, with external services terminating at a point in the town, along with bus interchanges to serve as such termini. Additional depots were also constructed, which SBS claimed gave them more control over bus operations.
1978–2001
The company was replaced by the Singapore Bus Service (1978) Limited on 17 February 1978. In May 1978, the company implemented a rule that car owners were not allowed to purchase any shares, resulting in more than 5,000 applicants being unsuccessful. The stock was oversubscribed by about 27 times, with S$375 million received for 14 million shares at S$1.00 each. The company was listed on the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) on 26 June 1978.
In 1992, SBS were reorganised under a new subsidiary SBS Bus Services Pte Ltd. On 12 November 1997, the original Singapore Bus Services (1978) Limited was renamed DelGro Corporation, with SBS Bus Services Pte Ltd listed separately as Singapore Bus Services Limited on 10 December that year.
SBS also operated taxis as SBS Taxis. SBS Taxis merged with Singapore Commuter and Singapore Airport Bus Services on 1 July 1995 to form CityCab, which remained part of DelGro Corporation.
SBS also operated Airbus in the past from 1995 to 1997 and Premium Bus Services, Sentosa Services and Jurong Island Services called "SBS Leisure" in 1995 to 2003. SBS had transferred Sentosa and Jurong Island Services in 2003, and Premium Bus Services (555 and 556) in December 2003 to private bus operators. 555 was a bus service from Watten Estate to Spottiswoode Park and 556 was a bus service from Sunset Way to Shenton Way, but it was totally withdrawn on 31 October 2004.
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SBS Transit (2001–present)
On 1 November 2001, Singapore Bus Services was rebranded as SBS Transit to reflect it becoming a multi-modal transport operator with the impending opening of the Sengkang LRT line and North East MRT line. Refurbishment of the buses began on 1 November 2001 and completed on 14 February 2004.
On 29 March 2003, DelGro Corporation merged with Comfort Group to form ComfortDelGro Corporation. ComfortDelGro Corporation owns 75% of the shares in SBS Transit.
On 18 January 2003, SBS Transit commenced operating the Sengkang LRT, followed by the North East MRT line on 20 June the same year. SBS Transit commenced operating the Punggol LRT on 29 January 2005, followed by the Downtown MRT line on 22 December 2013.
From Wikipedia’s article on SBS Transit, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4