App to tell commuters if bus is packed

Commuters will now know in advance if the bus they are waiting for will have seats available or is crowded with passengers.

A new function launched yesterday in the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) MyTransport.SG mobile app will provide commuters with bus loading information, along with estimated bus arrival timings.

Passenger loading information will be colour coded: green means seats are available; yellow indicates that standing space is available; while red means the bus is crowded and there is limited standing space.

The LTA said this will help commuters decide whether to board the arriving bus or wait for the following one.

The authority has also been working with operators SBS Transit and SMRT over the past year to install and test a new centralised system to capture in real-time where buses are.

This will provide more accurate bus arrival timings for more than 4,700 public buses over 360 routes.

Commuters can expect 80 per cent of bus services to arrive within three minutes of the estimated arrival time and this will be further fine-tuned, the LTA said.

It added that the enhanced bus arrival information is being shared with third-party developers of similar transport apps.

The MyTransport.SG app is available for download from the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

This article was first published on April 16, 2015.
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