Technical issues cause inaccurate bus timings on transport apps, bus stop displays again; LTA investigating

In January this year, LTA reset its ETA system after technical issues prevented buses from transmitting location data to a central server, causing inaccurate timings and long wait times to be displayed at electronic displays at bus stops and interchanges, as well as apps like MyTransport.SG, CityMapper and Google.

LTA had said that its engineers and the ETA system contractor identified a “memory cache build-up” in on-board systems, which affected around half of the bus fleet across all operators. 

Technicians were required to physically service the affected on-board devices, involving the clearing of memory caches and manually updating the firmware for the transmitters.

The issue, first detected on Jan 10, was fully restored more than a month later on Feb 12.

Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow told parliament last month that financial penalties would be imposed on a third-party vendor over technical issues.

CNA has contacted LTA for more information.