SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has found that another 1,000 buses are affected by the faulty bus arrival timing system, pushing full recovery to early next week. The authority said repair work is underway and bus services are continuing at normal frequencies, despite inaccurate arrival information on some routes.
According to LTA, engineers have completed manual firmware updates on 3,000 buses previously identified with Expected Time of Arrival (ETA) system issues. As a result, about 85% of bus arrival timings were set to be restored by Wednesday morning, Jan 28.
However, further checks showed that another 1,000 buses also require similar manual updates. These updates must be done after service hours, meaning the work will take place over the rest of the week.
The issue was first detected on Jan 10, when inaccurate bus arrival information led some passengers to believe their wait times were much longer than they actually were. More errors were found in the following week.
According to a Lianhe Zaobao report, Singapore has more than 5,000 public buses. Earlier, the authority said more than half of the fleet had been affected. After resetting the system, engineers and the system contractor found that some onboard units had stored too much cached data. This disrupted data transmission, preventing the correct display of arrival times.
Although the system has been gradually recovering since Jan 23, some arrival timings remain unreliable. Data from the MyTransport.SG app over the past two days showed waiting times of 30 to 40 minutes for certain services.
The authority stressed that the problem affects information accuracy, not bus operations. Bus services continue to run according to scheduled intervals.
In an update on its Facebook page on Jan 27, the Land Transport Authority said it had completed manual firmware updates for the 3,000 affected buses and identified the additional 1,000 vehicles requiring similar fixes. It also thanked passengers for their patience and said it was working to resolve the issue fully.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding while we resolve this issue. Rest assured, bus services will continue to run at normal frequencies,” the authority wrote.
Based on the commenter’s response, the matter highlights how heavily commuters rely on real-time transport data to manage work, family, and daily schedules. Even when services run as planned, unreliable information can quickly disrupt trust and routines, especially during busy weekday travel.
For now, passengers may need to allow extra time and rely on fixed schedules until the system stabilises next week.
