Jeffrey Siow cites highest quality and best electric bus proposal for why Go-Ahead Singapore won Tampines bus package
When queried about why Go-Ahead Singapore won the Tampines bus package despite a higher bid, Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow explained that they showed the best quality.
He claimed that aside from initial teething issues, the bus services in Tampines are now equally or more reliable than the previous operator.
NCMP Eileen Chong queries on choosing Go-Ahead Singapore despite high price
In July 2026, Go-Ahead Singapore took over the Tampines bus package from SBS Transit.
They had previously won the contract with a S$646 million bid.
Source: SBS Transit Ltd on Facebook
Workers’ Party Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Eileen Chong asked Mr Siow about the respective weightages given for quality and price.
SBS Transit had placed a bid of S$596 million.
She also asked about how each shortlisted bidder ranked on quality and total score, as well as what quality factors justified the price difference in choosing Go-Ahead Singapore.
Source: Go-Ahead Singapore on Facebook
Go-Ahead Singapore picked due to highest quality and proposal for electric buses
In a written reply on 6 Oct, Mr Siow responded that the quality to price weightage was 60:40. He said:
The winning bid from Go-Ahead Singapore had the highest score in quality, and the highest overall score.
SBS Transit’s price bid was the lowest, but the operator scored the second highest overall score.
Mr Siow stated that Tower Transit Singapore and SMRT Buses placed higher priced bids than SBS Transit but scored lower in quality.
Source: Land Transport Authority
Additionally, the Tampines bus package was the first one to involve large-scale electric bus deployment.
Bigger emphasis was thus placed on the operators’ plans to manage electric bus operations and maintenance at such a scale.
Mr Siow explained that Go-Ahead Singapore showcased detailed plans to transfer knowledge and operational experience from the electric bus operations of its sister company in London.
Source: Jeffrey Siow on Facebook
Jeffrey Siow says Tampines bus reliability mostly resolved
The Transport Minister acknowledged that Go-Ahead Singapore faced “teething issues” during the initial transition period.
Last month, Tampines MP Baey Yam Keng met with Go-Ahead Singapore regarding residents’ complaints about worse bus timings.
Source: Baey Yam Keng on Facebook
The operator pointed to issues such as training new bus captains as resulting in the problem.
“As of end-September 2026, the reliability of most of the bus services in the package have now matched or exceeded the performance under the previous incumbent,” Mr Siow claimed.
He also recognised that the performance on some bus routes could be improved.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is working with Go-Ahead Singapore on these issues.
Netizens complain about unpredictable bus timings in Tampines
Numerous netizens, however, disagreed with the claims of improved reliability.
One Redditor complained that bus timings had improved, but were still very unpredictable.
They claimed that timings could be off by four minutes or more, and that bus bunching is still prevalent.
Source: Reddit
Additionally, they alleged that the drivers had declined in quality. As a result, the netizen preferred SBS Transit.
Other purported Tampines residents also questioned the metrics that showed improved reliability.
Source: Reddit
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Featured image adapted from Go-Ahead Singapore on Facebook and Jeffrey Siow on Facebook.
