SMRT to stop Night Rider bus services from Jun. 30, 2022

No more late night SMRT bus rides for now.

Syahindah Ishak | June 16, 2022, 02:43 PM

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SMRT will discontinue its Night Rider (NR) services— NR1, NR2, NR3, NR5, NR6 and NR8— from Jun. 30, 2022.

The Night Rider bus services are overnight bus routes, which SMRT operates after midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and eves of Public Holidays.

They provide connections between the city and major housing estates during the after-hours where normal bus services and the MRT do not operate.

The first Night Rider service (NR1) started in March 2000.

It was operated by Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS) the predecessor of SMRT.

At its peak in 2001, there were 22 operational Night Rider services though most were withdrawn within less than a year due to low ridership.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), as reported by Today, the decision to withdraw the bus services comes after "carefully evaluating factors such as ridership, availability of alternatives, financial prudency and freeing up finite resources".

LTA added that before Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for these bus services "has been low" and there have been alternatives available to commuters.

More information about the Night Rider services can be found on Land Transport Guru.

Two other bus services to be discontinued

In a press release on Thursday (Jun. 16), SMRT also announced that two other bus services will be discontinued from Jun. 30.

The first is Service 188R.

Commuters travelling from Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok to Resorts World Sentosa can take the MRT or Service 188 to HarbourFront MRT Station, and connect to the Sentosa Express Monorail or RWS8 shuttle service.

Commuters can also take the MRT and connect to Service 123 at Tiong Bahru MRT Station.

Screenshot via SMRT.

The other bus service that will be discontinued is Service 926.

Commuters can take Service 138 from Ang Mo Kio and Springleaf MRT Stations, Service 927 from Choa Chu Kang MRT Station or Mandai Khatib Shuttle from Khatib MRT Station to the Singapore Zoo.

Screenshot via SMRT.

Top images from The Intelligent Bus Captain/FB.