Masuk Dalam! - Growing up with the SBS Bus

Reynold Pereira reflects on the role that the SBS bus has played in his life. (All photos courtesy of PICAS unless otherwise indicated)

 

It was once again that time of the year when I would go through my growing kid’s toys and remove those that he no longer plays with. In the midst of rummaging through his boxes of toys, I came across this little miniature diecast bus that I had bought for my older son in 2002, a few years after we had left Singapore.

It was an SBS Bus. While holding the bus, a wave of memories suddenly came flashing by. I then realised that the SBS (and later the CSS, TIBS) bus have in fact been a part of my life in Singapore.

Diecast SBS Bus from 2002 (that belonged to my kid)

Yes, for some of us who take the bus every day, it is just a reminder of that dreaded trip to the office or that constant fear of getting caught in a traffic jam. For me, after some reflection, I realised that the SBS bus brought back memories of chapters in my life. I can still recall many incidents sitting in a bus that were going along certain routes.

My Dad did on occasions mention about the STC (Singapore Traction Company) buses but as I had never rode on one, I can only speak about the SBS buses and the ones that came after it.

STC Bus from the 1960's

My earliest recollections of the SBS was taking the bus to go to the Diamond Theatre in North Bridge Road to watch either Tamil or Hindi movies with my family. Most of the shows were in the evening. 

On most occasions I could not recall the trip home to Kembangan where I lived as I was already fast asleep and was always in the arms of my mother on the walk from the bus stop to my home.

Diamond Theatre

All the buses at that time had a driver and a bus conductor who issued tickets when you paid your fare. Of course the aim was to have as many passengers as possible in the bus. 

It was the responsibility of the conductor to ensure that the bus was filled to the brim so it was common to hear the conductor shouting, 'Masuk dalam' ('Go in' in Malay) or 'Gia jeep' ('Go in' in Hokkien).

Bus conductor in an SBS Bus during the 1970's

As a kid, I remember that our bus fare was a flat rate of 10 cents. For adults, the fares ranged from 10 cents to 60 cents depending on the number of bus stops. 

I guess every adult had to remember the number of stops before he alights. Good training of the memory!

Bus tickets during the 1970's

Bus Fares

At the age of eight, I took my first solo road trip on a bus. I can’t recall what bus I took . (In the East Coast area, the bus numbers started from 1 to around 45). 

But I reckoned that if I took a bus from point A to B and then took the same bus number at point B in the opposite direction, I would reach point A again. 

Fortunately for me, this assumption worked to my favour!! Hope that Mum and Dad will not be reading this because I would certainly be in for a hiding as I had never told them around this solo bus ride so early in my life!!

SBS Bus from the 1970's

I also recall at on occasions, the bus driver would stop in front of a 'prata' shop close to my home (close to the present site of the present Kembangan MRT Station) and go in to collect his ‘takeaway prata’  while the other passengers patiently remained in the bus. 

For everyone in the bus, there was nothing extraordinary about this. Nowadays, even a one minute delay would result in unmentionable remarks from passengers!

Kembangan MRT Station (My childhood home was demolished to make way for this station)

I have to confess that I did avoid paying my fare on several occasions, especially when the bus was crowded. It was sometimes difficult for the bus conductor to collect fares especially when the bus was overcrowded.

It was also common to find graffiti at the back of the seats back then since the back was usually made of wood. And we also did try our hand in creating works of art by scratching on the backs of the seats using coins!

As a kid, nothing beats going to the beach. For us, that meant taking a one hour bus ride on bus number 1 or 2 from Kembangan all the way to Changi Point. 

For my Mum, the day would have started early as she had to prepare her delicious mutton curry (which she brought along in tiffin carriers) that we would all be whopping away with soft bread in between our swims at the beach. 

Changi Point seemed to us to be in another world. There was always that ‘holiday air’ surrounding the area.

The ride home from Changi Point was always a blur as we were asleep for most of the journey home.

Bus terminus at Changi Point during the 1960's

                    
Another exciting adventure was visiting my cousins who lived in Upper Bukit Timah Road (close to the old stone quarries). Its funny but I can still recall the name of the road, 'Chia Eng Say Road'!! 

The trip there entailed taking a bus to Ophir Road and then boarding the 170 bus which was headed towards Johor Baru. 

It was easy to know where to alight as the bus stop was just after second black truss bridge that spanned across Upper Bukit Timah Road.

The black truss bridge today. (Glad to hear that they are going to preserve it)

My first long solo trips were made when I was ten and had joined the World Star Football Club in 1974. The trainings were held at the football field in Farrer Park. 

For many, Farrer Park was the 'Mecca of football' for youth soccer and it was a dream for me to be able to play there on a regular basis. And it was also not uncommon to see many football legends training there.

Farrer Park Field (Here we have Fandi Ahmad in the middle and Dollah Kassim to his right)

To get to Farrer Park, I had to take a bus from my place to Crawford Street and then change to bus 163 (or was it 160??). I remember having to walk by the old Singapore Sports House in Rutland Road to get to the Farrer Park field. 

As I am quite interested in sports history I was saddened to hear that the building was razed to the ground in 1985 and many of the sports associations lost a substantial amount of historic records.

Another interesting incident I remember was the difficulty of the old bus number 20 in trying to climb up the steep slope at opera Estate. I remember once when the bus attempted to climb the slope several times without success.  

Eventually, all the passengers were asked to get off the bus and fortunately the bus made it after that to the top of the slope and we all re-boarded the bus!

The type of bus which was similar to the one used for bus number 20 in the 1970's

Moving to Marine Parade at the end of 1975 meant that I had to take the bus to get to St. Stephen's School, my primary school every day in 1976. 

That meant that I had to apply for a concessionary bus pass. It was a big thrill for me being able to take the bus every day. Suddenly you felt grown-up.

One of the bus passes that I had

An exciting new development took place in 1977 when the SBS introduced their first double decker buses. It was a big thrill for us and of course, the seat of choice was the two front seats on the upper level. 

It was not easy to get those seats so a couple of times, we decide to board the bus at the old terminal at Chai Chee just to have the pleasure of seating on those much sought after seats.

The first SBS Double Decker buses that were introduced in 1977

Overcrowding has always been an issue so it was a brief respite when the City Shuttle Service (CSS) buses were introduced in the mid 70's. 

Though these buses were just as crowded, they tended to go faster, since they operated a non-stop service from the National Stadium to downtown.

The CSS bus in 1975

Doing my Officer Cadet training meant that I had to take the bus from the Marine Drive in the east coast to SAFTI military barracks which was in the west coast. 

It was indeed an extremely long journey considering that this was before the days of the expressways. 

I was glad that I had my trusted Sony Walkman to keep me company during these long journeys.

My Sony Walkman looked something like this (Photo courtesy of Sony)

The journeys became even longer when I was posted to Sungei Gedong camp off Lim Chu Kang Road. To get there I had to take the bus 172. As we only needed to book in by 2359hrs, I used to catch the last bus. 

I was always happy when there were other passengers in the bus since the bus journey took us past a couple of cemeteries!! And somehow we tended to avoid looking out of the windows for fear of seeing figures dressed in white!!

The introduction of the MRT system in the mid 80's meant I took the bus less and less, as it was usually faster to travel by the MRT. But I will never forget those experiences that I had riding on an SBS bus.

Whenever we come back to Singapore, I try to make it a point to take the SBS bus together with my kids though I must confess that the experience is somewhat different nowadays!!