Tampines Bus Interchange (abbreviated as TBI in this article) is a bus station in Tampines, Singapore. It serves as the primary bus interchange for Tampines New Town, with feeder and trunk services operating at high frequencies. It is owned by the Land Transport Authority and operated by SBS Transit Ltd.
The TBI serves as a terminus and departure point for commuter routes, and is a major transit hub for Tampines residents. It complements the high-capacity rail network and acts as a key node in the hub-and-spoke transport model. With 23 bus services operating from the interchange serving an estimated 325,000 passengers daily, it is the fourth busiest bus interchange in Singapore.
History
Previous sites
In the early days of Tampines New Town, buses in Tampines operated from the then Tampines Bus Terminal (TBT1) along Tampines Avenue 5. It was planned as a temporary terminal to serve new residents in Tampines, as much of Tampines was still under development in the 1980s. It started operations on 19 February 1983 with one feeder service and one trunk service, complementing other bus services from the busier Bedok Bus Interchange in the adjacent town.
The first trunk service at TBT1 was Service 23, which operated between Tampines and Orchard Road, while the first feeder was Service 292. Service 28 was soon added on 4 September 1983, operating between Tampines and Chinatown for the first version, later version is between Tampines and Toa Payoh. More feeders were only added to the terminal the following year, namely 293 and the now-defunct 294 on 12 August 1984, as people started moving into Tampines East.
As the population in Tampines increased to 50,000, there remained only four trunk services and three feeders, run with only 80 buses. As a result, the services could not keep up with the growth in transport demand, and queues got long. In a bid to reduce the long wait times, more buses were added in January 1985. A new temporary terminal (TBT2) had to be built a short distance away along the same road to replace the original one, as the original one did not have sufficient capacity to handle the additional buses. The increased frequency, through the addition of more buses, was successful in meeting the growing demand, while TBI was still under construction in Tampines Central.
As more residents moved in to the new estate, trunk services were extended to include Tampines, such as Service 65 in April 1987. Service 65 was a major trunk service in Singapore at that time, as the MRT network had yet to commence operations. It plied through Jalan Besar and Orchard Road with its terminus at the World Trade Centre (now known as HarbourFront Centre); its route remains largely unchanged to date.
Current site
On 29 November 1987, phase 1 of the current TBI opened to public at a larger site in Tampines Central. It was opened by Mr Phua Bah Lee (then MP for Tampines) and Dr Aline Wong (then MP for Changkat, most of which has since been subsumed under Tampines GRC). At the time of opening, it was one of the largest bus interchanges in Singapore. A new feeder service operated between the two bus stations, as trunk services at TBT2 slowly shifted out. In March 1988, phase 2 of TBI opened, and all services previously operating from TBT2 had completed the shift over to TBI, with some changes to their routes. TBT2 was then closed and demolished to make way for residential developments in Tampines West.
The current interchange was built at a cost of S$5 million, and consists of 85 bus bays. A comprehensive set of trunk services were added to link the town to the rest of the island, while feeder services brought residents in for the new trunk transfers. The relocation was done in anticipation for the opening of Tampines MRT station two years later, and the rise in transport demand as Tampines develops itself into a regional centre in Singapore. It was also built to reduce the need for Tampines residents to use the Bedok Bus Interchange. A three-day exhibition was set up to acquaint residents with the new TBI.
Refurbishments
TBI was refurbished in 2008 to make it barrier-free and allow the introduction of wheelchair-accessible bus services. In 2009, it was upgraded to provide more and better bicycle parking facilities around the interchange. 150 new bicycle racks were provided by the LTA, which took into account the demand at the time.