SINGAPORE — The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Tuesday (Feb 13) that it has awarded contracts of close to half a million to two companies for the first phase in its trial of on-demand, “dynamically routed” public bus services.

The proposals of New York-based ride-sharing company Via Transportation and homegrown start-up Ministry of Movement (Swat) have been chosen from among 10 submitted by Singapore and overseas bidders since LTA called a tender in August last year. The names of the other eight bidders were not disclosed.

The trial is to help LTA assess if customised public bus services could optimise resources and operating costs in areas and periods with low ridership.

Customers will be able to request pick-ups and drop-offs at any bus stop within a specified area using a mobile application, instead of just alighting at designated bus stops along fixed routes.

Similar on-demand bus services can be found in other places such as Helsinki in Finland and New South Wales in Australia.

In the first stage of the trial, both Via and Swat will have to develop a “dynamic matching and routing algorithm” which will enable buses to be deployed according to real-time commuter demand, as well as pick-up and drop-off points, LTA said.

They will also conduct simulations to “demonstrate and refine the service standard and resource requirements” in order for LTA to determine the trial areas, among other things.

Three possible areas have been preliminarily identified for the trial: Joo Koon (for bus services 253, 255 and 257), Punggol North/West (for services 84 and 382) and Shenton Way/Marina South (for services 400 and 402).

These services have low demand during off-peak hours and could potentially serve more commuters if they are converted into on-demand bus services, LTA said.

In the second phase — which will be awarded in the third quarter this year — the successful bidder to be announced will work with LTA and public bus operators to test and calibrate the software and hardware solutions.

From the fourth quarter of 2018, they will carry out an operational trial. More details will be given closer to the implementation dates.

In the lead-up to the operational trial, LTA will work with the bus operators and communities in the trial areas to get residents and commuters familiar with the on-demand bus services.

To ensure that commuters who prefer the regular services still have access to them, LTA said that it would continue to run selected low-demand feeder or trunk bus services providing similar connections at a reduced frequency when on-demand bus services are running.

‘PROVEN TRACK RECORDS’

On why Via and Swat were selected, LTA said that they were evaluated to have “comprehensive bids that were high-quality and good value-for-money”. They also have “proven track records in developing on-demand ride-sharing applications and operating real-time, dynamically routed bus services”.

Via, which is based in New York, operates on-demand transit services that take passengers heading in the same direction in a shared vehicle. Its services run in New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. in the United States.

Swat, a ride-sharing app developed in Singapore, jumped into the ride-sharing market in 2016 to give companies such as Uber and Grab a run for their money.

Commuters, who are charged between S$2 and S$7.99, need to book a Swat shuttle bus ride either on demand at least 30 minutes before or up to two weeks in advance, and the ride will be offered only if the user’s journey fits any of its optimised routes. It also has regular routes to pick up and drop off users at fixed timings daily, which have been identified through extensive data analysis.

Swat’s chief executive Lin Shijing told TODAY that it has been in the business for the last two-and-a-half years and has a “good knowledge” of ride-sharing services.

“This LTA tender is just an extension of what we have already been doing. What we are very excited about is that we are doing it for the public bus operations in Singapore, and to (create) a bigger impact for Singaporean commuters,” he said. 
More than 40,000 on-demand bus rides have been made since 2016, Swat’s co-founder and chief technology officer Jarrold Ong said.

Pointing out that while an algorithm can generate perfectly mapped out routes, a mindset change is needed to overcome hurdles on the ground, to avoid a “snowball effect” created when passengers wait on board for latecomers. for instance.

With ride-sharing becoming more accepted in recent years, there is a gradual “re-education of users to be at the pick-up location on time, and to make sure the pick-up process happens smoothly”, Mr Ong said.

He added that it is also important to understand and learn more about the different commuter segments, be they students who do not mind walking longer distances to the pick-up point but prefer cheaper prices, or adults who can fork out more and are less willing to wait.

“We are looking forward to learning about new users that will use our system and developing a product which will be useful for everyone,” he said.

TODAY also contacted Via’s office in New York for comments, but a response is not available yet.