Monday, August 29, 2011

Cross border fleet change for 170/170X from 29th August 2011

Following 160 and 950's fleet change from their respective predecessor buses, 170 and its shortworking cousin 170X recieved its fleet change on 29th August 2011.

Striders make an appearance on 170...
...and on its shortworking cousin 170X!
The DM3500s are now the mainstay for 170's fleet

This bus used to have a Transit Media electronic destination signage system.




Some of the new plates for 170

For 170

170X > Singapore - Kranji MRT
170X > JB -Kotaraya II

And farewell to the MK IIIs that served on 160/170

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Cross border fleet change from 1st August 2011.

1st August 2011 marks a round of fleet renewal for the cross border services by SBS Transit and SMRT Buses, as their predecessors gets retired

SBS Transit's 170 and 160
There's older buses before this B57 model, but the B57 is the oldest model i remember. We start from the known retired B57 buses on 170

SBS's retired Volvo B57 (from SBS Transit Memory Lane website)
to 170 having B10M MK IIs
A retired Volvo B10M MK II.
to B10M MK IIIs were introduced when 170 became fully air-conditoned service. It was a welcome relief as commuters are spared from breathing in the vehicle exhausts during a jam, and also travel across the two countries in air-conditioned comfort)
 
A MK III (SBS787P) carrying an advertisment for Maybank. Cross border buses rarely has advertisments on it.
With its sister service 160 from Jurong East to Kotaraya II introduced in September 2004, it received the airconditioned MK IIIs.

SBS739D on 160, at Jurong East bound for Kotaraya II Terminal at Johore Bahru.
and now, part of 160's fleet has been replaced with B10M MK IV buses with DM3500 bodywork.
SBS2750G, one of the MK IV DM3500s deployed to 160.
170 has not yet received its deployment of DM3500s yet.
A blue-plate 170.
Currently, the MK IV DM3500s are making up part of the fleet for 160 only, and looks to be a gradual changover; with 160/170's entire fleet expected to be using MK IV DM3500 buses in the coming months.


SMRT Buses.

19 September 2004 saw the introduction of 950 as a competitor/alternative on the cross border services operating between Singapore and Malaysia. The fleet consisted of Hispano O405s since its introduction.
The route details were updated in July 2011 to scroll with route details instead of static "Kotaraya II/Johore Bahru" & "Woodlands Int/Singapore"
TIB968R on 950

The rear of TIB968R, with its Malaysia stickers for entering Malaysia as a revenue service bus.
It is supplemented by a fleet of OC500LEs.

SMB98D on 950
The Malaysian permit sticker.
And the black information sticker has been updated to a newer reflecting the accurate information for the OC500LE.

The old sticker.
The new sticker.
The rear showing the stickers.
The rear of the OC500LE with its Malaysia stickers for entering Malaysia as a revenue service bus.

The predecessor and successor for O405s for 950, the Hispano O405 in front, and the Volgren O405 at the back.
This also marks the first time where two models from each of the company is running on their respective service (exception of service 170 as it has not received MK IV DM3500s yet)

All info are as of 3rd August 2011.