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There have been issues with displaying accurate bus arrival times on bus stop displays and bus apps since Jan 10.

SummarySingapore's bus timing displays faced issues since Jan 10 due to memory cache build-up in on-board bus systems, inconveniencing commuters.Manual firmware updates on 4,000 buses, done nightly, have largely restored timings. Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow confirmed it's "almost back to normal".Over 90 per cent of bus timings are restored, with remaining "loose ends" being tied up. Authorities aim to further improve system availability and accuracy.AI generated

Published Feb 09, 2026, 06:01 PM

Updated Feb 09, 2026, 07:08 PM

SINGAPORE – The authorities are “just tying up the loose ends” as they work to fully restore the availability of bus timings, said Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow on Feb 9.

Responding to questions from the media during an interview about the latest route additions to the Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had said the manual update had to be done on 4,000 buses. As at the end of 2025, there were 6,067 public buses.

There have been issues with displaying accurate bus arrival times on bus stop displays and bus apps since Jan 10, caused by a memory cache build-up in the on-board systems of some buses.

In a normal scenario, a cache stores data that is frequently used, so that information can be retrieved more quickly. However, as the cache stores more and more data, it could result in systems behaving more sluggishly and, in some cases, even glitching or crashing.

The authority had earlier announced an expected recovery date of Jan 26, before pushing this to early in the week of Feb 2

LTA, however, said on Feb 7 that bus arrival times were restored to above 90 per cent

“It’s a manual process,” added Mr Siow. “They have to go all over Singapore – and can only really do it at night when the buses are down, so it has taken a bit of time.”

Noting that an “intensive” amount of resources were put in, Mr Siow added: “Having made the effort, I think we are almost back to normal and (it) should be functioning properly already.”

When asked why the memory cache of the system was not cleared regularly, he said that based on his understanding, the system was trying to send a signal to the server but did not get a response, which led to the build-up of the memory cache.

Likening this to receiving an out-of-office e-mail after writing to someone, Mr Siow said this “back-and-forth” correspondence loads up the memory of the system.

Acknowledging the hard work put in to restore the system over the last few weeks, he said it is “back to close to normal”, adding that bus operations were not affected.

“I know a lot of commuters use the bus arrival system to get a good estimate of the travel time, and I know they were affected and inconvenienced,” Mr Siow said.

“But the good thing is, we have brought the system back to where it should be, and will continue to improve the availability and accuracy of the system over time.”

Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow (right) and Minister of State for Transport Baey Yam Keng speaking to the media at Tampines North Bus Interchange on Feb 9.

ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

Esther Loi is a journalist at The Straits Times, where she covers transport issues.

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