The Mandatory Give Way to Buses Scheme is one of several LTA initiatives to improve the speed and reliability of bus services under the Land Transport Master Plan announced in 2008.

As of Dec 2010, there are a total of 202 bus stops under this Scheme.

The Mandatory Give-Way to Buses Scheme is similar conceptually to a zebra crossing, except that it is meant for buses.

When nearing a bus stop under this scheme, motorists will first see triangular give way markings on the road. These markings indicate that motorists approaching these bus stops need to slow down and watch in case buses are pulling out of the bus bay. Motorists come to a complete stop before the give way line and give way to buses exiting the bus bay at the location. Motorists may continue their journey once the bus has successfully exited the bus bay and no other buses are pulling out from the bus bay.

It will be a traffic offence if motorists do not give way to buses exiting from bus bays where the new road markings are drawn or if they stay in the yellow box marked 'Give Way to Buses'. The penalty for each offence is a fine of $130 (no demerit points).

The pilot Mandatory Give-Way to Buses Scheme began in December 2008 at 22 bus bays along Bukit Batok East Avenue 3, Toh Tuck Road and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8. Through observation of traffic flow at the three pilot locations, it was found that the Scheme is effective in reducing the amount of time spent by buses exiting the bus bays, which in turn leads to improved overall bus speeds. The buses were able to exit the bus bay faster, with a time reduction of up to 73% in some cases. The total journey time for bus services that ply the three locations saw an improvement of up to 7%.

The LTA also monitored the average vehicular speeds at the three roads and found no significant changes to traffic speeds along roads at the three locations, indicating that the scheme has minimal impact on main road traffic speeds.

Additionally, a straw poll conducted on more than 200 bus commuters who travel along the three pilot locations revealed that more than 96% surveyed noticed that buses are able to exit the bus bays significantly faster at the three pilot locations.

Following the positive results of the Mandatory Give-Way to Buses pilot, the LTA expanded the Scheme to additional bus stops. The Scheme was implemented in batches as follows:

The LTA will continue to review and implement the scheme at suitable locations to benefit more commuters.

Similar to the Mandatory Give-Way to Buses scheme, LTA has put on trial a bus signal priority scheme in 2009, to give priority to buses at traffic light junctions.

All these bus priority measures will help work towards increasing bus speeds and to enhance their reliability for the commuters.

Last Updated: 3 October 2011