The system will be designed in partnership with Chinese company Streamax and Singapore-based TNT Surveillance

[SINGAPORE] SBS Transit buses may soon be equipped with intelligent braking systems designed to reduce the sharp jolts that current emergency brakes may cause, the public transport company said in on Sunday (May 11).

 

Known as the responsive and adaptive braking system (RABS), the system enables emergency brakes to decelerate more gradually and with greater control, unlike conventional emergency braking systems that lock when applied.

 

&ldquo This abrupt movement may cause passengers who are seated to be thrown forward while those who are standing to lose their balance &ndash sometimes leading to injuries,&rdquo the statement noted.

 

The company said that it had signed a memorandum of understanding in April with Chinese artificial intelligence of things leader Streamax, as well as Singapore-based surveillance provider TNT Surveillance, to develop RABS.

 

Such a system would be the first of its kind for buses, the company noted. The system is scheduled for a pilot launch in the first half of 2026.

 

SBS Transit said that as traffic is dynamic in nature, RABS will be able to constantly adapt its braking parameters in response to bus speed, congestion levels and weather or road conditions, to enable the driver to keep a safe distance.

 

RABS will use radar sensors and cameras to act as a &ldquo co-pilot&rdquo , monitoring the vehicle&rsquo s surroundings continuously to detect hazards, such as a car swerving into the bus lane or a pedestrian stepping in front of the bus.

 

&ldquo The system will respond within 40 milliseconds, more than 35 times faster than the average human time,&rdquo SBS Transit said. This would prevent accidents while causing minimal disturbance to passengers, reducing the likelihood of them being thrown off balance or injured, it added.

 

If a collision is unavoidable, the system would automatically moderate the braking force to reduce its impact, lowering injury risk and minimising damage to the vehicle.

 

Real-time data will also be transmitted by RABS to bus operational control centres, through live video feeds, precise locations and incident details, SBS Transit said. This would enable its operations team to improve response times and situational awareness during incidents.

 

SBS Transit has increasingly tapped technology to enhance safety systems in recent years, with RABS joining existing systems such as the dashboard-mounted fatigue detector Golden Eye and a 360-degree collision warning system.

 

&ldquo RABS will work in tandem with existing systems, reinforcing our ongoing commitment to leveraging smart technologies to enhance safety for our bus captains and passengers alike,&rdquo the company added.

 

Jeffrey Sim, group chief executive of SBS Transit, said: &ldquo We continually invest in technologies to elevate safety standards &ndash not just for ourselves, but also across the public transport industry.&rdquo

 

SBS Transit has reported earnings of $15.94 million for 1QFY2025 ended March 31, 2025, down 6.2% y-o-y.

 

The transport operator&rsquo s revenue came in 4.7% y-o-y lower for the quarter at $373.81 million due to lower service fee for buses which was a product of the company losing Jurong West package from September.

 

However, the losses were minimised due to higher rail fare revenue. Other commercial services also saw a growth in revenue mainly due to more advertising revenue.

 

For 1QFY2025, SBS Transit reported a higher operating profit of $17.32 million, up 0.4% y-o-y due to lower fuel and electricity costs, and lower repairs and maintenance costs. The company says that this was partially offset by higher rail licence charges.

 

The lower interest income and higher tax expenses have therefore let to earnings declining for the quarter.

 

As at March 31, total assets for the group came in at $1.12 billion, a 3.6% q-o-q decrease from the $1.16 billion recorded a quarter ago.

 

This is due to a decrease in trade and other receivables and depreciation of vehicles, premises and equipment.

 

Average daily ridership for the North East Line and Downtown Line for 1QFY2025 came in at 595,000 and 586,000, up 2.9% q-o-q and 2.4% q-o-q respectively.

 

SBS Transit has submitted its bid for the PT220 Tampines bus tender and this new package is to commence on July 16, 2026. Results are expected to be announced inJuly/August 2025.

 

SBS Transit has reported earnings of $70.3 million for the FY2024 ended Dec 31, 2024, up 1.8% y-o-y. For the 2HFY2024, earnings came in 6.8% y-o-y higher at $36.6 million. 

 

The public transport operator declared an earnings per share for FY2024 of 22.52 cents per share, up from the 22.15 cents per share declared in the same period a year ago. 

 

Group revenue for the FY2024 rose 2.1% y-o-y to $1.56 billion, up from the $1.53 billion reported in the same period a year ago. However, revenue for the 2HFY2024 fell 0.5% y-o-y to $778.4 million. 

 

Full revenue from its public transport services business, which includes bus and rail services, increased by 2% y-o-y. This came from higher rail ridership, and offset by lower bus revenue mileage. 

 

Revenue from other commercial services business increased 5.1% due to advertisers launching more digital campaigns. 

 

Operating profit for the full year fell 4.5% y-o-y to $73.2 million, down from $76.7 million in the FY2023. 2HFY2024 operating profit also saw a 5.2% y-o-y decrease to $38.5 million. 

 

This decline is due to advertising concession fee payable from Jan 1, 2024 under the new rail advertising concession agreement and higher premises costs, offset by higher revenue. 

 

The group says that group operating costs increased by 2.5% to $1.49 billion due to higher costs incurred for manpower, premises, repairs and maintenance, and higher rail licence charge and advertising concession fees, which were offset by productivity savings, lower fuel and electricity costs, and lower depreciation expense.

 

SBS Transit has declared a total dividend per share for 2024 of 28.68 cents, up from the 11.6 cents in 2023. This includes a tax-exempt one-tier final dividend of 14.69 cents per ordinary share and a tax exempt one-tier special dividend of 8.41 cents per ordinary share, and inclusive of an interim dividend of 5.58 cents

 

The group expects rail operations revenue to grow marginally with higher ridership and fare adjustments that came into effect on Dec 28, 2024. 

 

Bus operations revenue will decrease with the full year impact of the expiry of the Jurong West bus package on Aug 31, 2024, and operating costs will continue to remain a challenge, SBS Transit notes. 

 

&ldquo We have been awarded the contract and will continue to operate the Seletar Bus Package for a new five-year contract at current market rates effective from March 2025, with an option for an extension of between two and five years,&rdquo the group notes. 

 

It also won the tender to operate and maintain the Jurong Region line with French operator RATP Dev. 

This is the first time a foreign entity will jointly operate an MRT service in Singapore

 

A JOINT venture (JV) between SBS Transit and French multimodal transport operator RATP Dev has won the tender to operate and maintain the Jurong Region Line, Singapore&rsquo s seventh Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line.

 

Both operators were awarded the nine-year licence, which includes an option for a two-year extension, by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Thursday (Nov 28). The service fee quoted for 11 years by the JV is approximately S$750 million, said LTA in a media statement. This was about 8 per cent lower than that quoted by SMRT Trains, which had also bid for the contract.

 

The JV is between SBS Transit Rail and RATP Dev Asia Pacific &ndash a subsidiary of RATP Dev &ndash and is named Singapore One Rail.

 

RATP Dev is the international operating arm of French state-owned transport group RATP, which is the third-largest urban transport operator in the world. The group is present in 15 countries across five continents, and has delivered automated metro systems in cities such as Paris, Sydney, Doha, and Riyadh. It has also opened several new rail lines over the past decade, including the 3.5-billion-euro (S$5 billion) extension of Paris Metro Line 14 for the 2024 Olympic Games.

 

Significantly, RATP Dev will be the first foreign operator to jointly run an MRT line in Singapore.

 

In an interview with The Business Times in 2018, RATP Dev&rsquo s then chief executive Laurence Batlle had said the group was eyeing the Jurong Region and Cross Island metro lines, as well as future bus tenders, in Singapore. Malaysia and the Philippines were also markets of interest.

 

The group had previously made three unsuccessful bids for public transport projects in Singapore. In 2001, it failed to land the contract for the Marina Line rail project &ndash the first stage of what is now the Circle Line. Then in 2015, it lost out on two government bus contracts &ndash the Bulim package made up of 26 bus services operating from the Bukit Batok, Clementi and Jurong East interchanges, and the Loyang package comprising 25 bus routes in Punggol and Pasir Ris.

 

On Thursday, LTA also said that it will not be awarding the contract to operate the Cross Island Line and will be selecting the operator &ldquo at a later date&rdquo .

 

An &ldquo ambitious&rdquo metro project

The upcoming Jurong Region Line will span 24 MRT stations and connect key activity nodes in the western part of Singapore, such as the Jurong Industrial Estate, Jurong Innovation District, Nanyang Technological University and the Tengah new town. The line will open for passenger service in three stages from 2027.

 

The completion of the Jurong Region Line will also take SBS Transit&rsquo s rail network in Singapore to 107 km, up from 83 km. The partnership between SBS Transit and RATP Dev &ldquo combines years of expertise in high-capacity urban rail and complex project management&rdquo , both operators noted in a media statement.

 

Jeffrey Sim, group CEO of SBS Transit, said: &ldquo Together with our French partner, RATP Dev, we are thrilled to receive this vote of confidence from the LTA, recognising the quality and competitiveness of our proposal.&rdquo

 

In their tender proposal, both operators said that Singapore One Rail will be leveraging advanced technologies &ndash such as condition-monitoring technologies, video and data analytics and generative artificial intelligence &ndash to deliver &ldquo safe, reliable and sustainable&rdquo train services. It will also establish a flagship customer experience innovation lab to encourage commuters to co-create innovative technologies and solutions &ldquo for a better public transport experience&rdquo .

 

The lab will also serve as a platform to build local capabilities, as well as host workshops and hackathons to generate &ldquo fresh and creative ideas&rdquo to tackle public transport challenges, both operators added.

 

Henri Pottier, CEO of RATP Dev in Asia-Pacific, said that the group was honoured to work alongside SBS Transit to deliver one of Singapore&rsquo s &ldquo most ambitious&rdquo metro projects. &ldquo Our combined expertise will contribute to a more efficient, sustainable, and future-proof public transport system, ensuring the Jurong Region Line meets the highest standards of reliability, innovation, and integration with the broader transport network in Singapore.&rdquo

 

The award of the Jurong Region Line tender comes a year after SBS Transit&rsquo s parent company ComfortDelGro and RATP Dev had jointly won the contract to operate the south sector of Line 15 of the Grand Paris Express in the Greater Paris region.

It expects increases in costs to moderate with lower inflation and energy prices

 

LISTED bus and train operator SBS Transit : S61 0%&rsquo s : S61 0%net profit inched up 1.7 per cent year on year to S$18.2 million for the third quarter of FY2024 to September.

 

This is in spite of a reduced operating profit but a lower tax expense helped to cushion the hit.

 

In its business update filed to the Singapore Exchange on Friday (Nov 8), SBS Transit reported a 2.1 per cent rise in revenue to S$396.1 million for the quarter, driven mainly by higher average fare and ridership for rail.

 

But operating expense was 2.3 per cent higher, pushed up by an increase in costs for staff and premises, as well as higher rail licence charge and advertising concession fee.

 

This resulted in the public transport operator&rsquo s operating profit being 0.1 per cent lower year on year at S$18.8 million.

 

However, SBS Transit expects increases in costs to moderate with lower inflation and energy prices, going forward.

 

Revenue wise, rail operations are expected to rake in higher proceeds due to impending increase in fares and expected higher ridership, said SBS Transit. The Public Transport Council has announced a fare increase of 6 per cent with effect from Dec 28, 2024.

 

Meanwhile, bus operations revenue is expected to decrease upon the handover of the Jurong West bus package.

 

For the nine months of FY2024, SBS Transit posted a 1.5 per cent drop in net profit to S$51.9 million even as revenue climbed 4 per cent to S$1.2 billion.

 

The 4.3 per cent rise in operating costs outstripped the percentage improvement in top line, resulting in operating profit for the nine month