Accuracy Standards of Bus ETA System Over Past Three Years and Monitoring Measures of System Contractor's Performance

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question 

Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat asked the Acting Minister for Transport 

a.      what accuracy standards apply to the bus Expected Time of Arrival (ETA) system;

b.      what has been the measured accuracy rate over the past three years;

c.      whether the Ministry is satisfied with the ETA system contractor's performance, given inaccuracies reported well before the January 2026 failure; and

d.      what monitoring measures will prevent recurrence.

Reply by Acting Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow: 

1.     The Expected Time of Arrival (ETA) system is expected to predict actual bus arrival times within a three-minute range, at least 95% of the time. There is some inherent variation in bus arrival times, due to variable dwell times at preceding bus stops, and traffic speeds due to congestion, accidents or roadworks.

2.      In the past three years the actual performance of the system has met the prescribed performance target. The ETA failure in January was due to a defect in the software on the buses that was triggered by a server failure. The defect has since been fixed, and the system’s performance is stabilising.

3.      Since 2024, we have begun to upgrade the ETA system to improve arrival time predictions, and provide more real time information to commuters. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is closely monitoring the reliability and accuracy of the ETA system and has taken remedial actions to prevent a recurrence.