SINGAPORE — The Government will be expanding the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) by adding another 450 buses from 2015 to 2017, on top of the original 550 buses announced in 2012, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said in Parliament today (March 11).

This brings the total number of government-funded buses to 1,000, with the bulk of these buses to be injected into the public transport network by end 2016.

Since the end of last month, about 320 of the 550 BSEP buses have entered service, with the remaining 230 buses to be on the road by the end of this year.

Addressing questions from Members of Parliament during the ministry’s Committee of Supply Debate, Mr Lui said that commuter satisfaction with bus services rose to 88.3 per cent last year from 86.4 per cent in an annual Public Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by UniSIM.

With the enhanced BSEP, Mr Lui said that the number of new bus routes will be doubled to 80 from 40 under the original BSEP to improve connectivity.

Priority will also be given to improving the frequencies of existing feeder bus services during peak hours, with buses added to eight out of 10 feeder services by 2017.

With more buses added into the transport system, the public transport operators will be required to deliver higher service standards, with scheduled intervals between buses to be reduced to not more than eight minutes by 2017.

Under the original BSEP, 95 per cent of feeder services are required to operate at 10 minute intervals during morning and evening peak periods by the end of this year.

On how the new buses will be funded, Mr Lui said that the government will continue to draw from the S$1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Fund, which will be “sufficient for the next few years” before a review will be carried out “at the appropriate time”.