Mauritius United Bus Service (UBS) Xiamen Golden Dragon Buses at PSA Tanjong Pagar Terminal (TPT) in Singapore
On the week of 17 October 2021, I spotted some new red buses sitting idle at PSA Tanjong Pagar Terminal (TPT) Singapore. A quick search on Google of the initials on the livery showed me that these are United Bus Service (UBS) buses of Mauritius.
NOTE: All photos were taken from SBS Transit Bus Service 30 on the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE).
Yup, these are definitely not containers on wheels.
The UBS buses at Tanjong Pagar Terminal are parked with other land vehicles without registration.
United Bus Service (UBS) Xiamen Golden Dragon Buses
Zooming in on the picture, I counted a total of 22 buses at the port – 20 of them regular sized, and 2 of them with red ventilation pods of a shorter size with a single-leaf front door.
These appear to be Xiamen Golden Dragon Buses from China, as seen from the logo at the front of the bus. All of them also do not seem to be air-conditioned, notably with a lack of the air-conditioning pods which are seen in the below picture.
Singapore was probably a transit stop from Xiamen, China (?) to Port Louis, Mauritius for these buses.
These buses are similar to the ones featured on UBS’s website as their cover photo. However, the featured buses appear to have air-conditioning, with the big red air-conditioning pod mounted on top of the bus. This is notably missing from the buses at Tanjong Pagar Terminal.
Here are some videos of what this batch of UBS Xiamen Golden Dragon Buses might look like:
A wide variety of other land vehicles such as trucks, vans, cars, and construction vehicles are also lined up at Tanjong Pagar Terminal Singapore. I’m not sure if these are all bound for the same incoming ship, or perhaps even all bound for Mauritius.
Swan Ace Vehicles Carrier (RoRo)
On 23 October 2021, I spotted the Swan Ace Vehicles Carrier (RoRo) docked at Tanjong Pagar Terminal Singapore. This should be goodbye, then.
The Swan Ace has her stern quarter ramp out to the wharf.
There were some vehicles being unloaded from the Swan Ace. I’m not sure if these are bound for Singapore, or are on another transit to another RoRo vessel.
My last look at the United Bus Service (UBS) in Singapore. See you next time in Mauritius, hopefully.
The Swan Ace departed from Singapore on 25 October 2021 at 3.27pm Singapore time (07:27 UTC). Her next stop is Port Louis, Mauritius with an estimated arrival on 4 November 2021 at 3.00pm Mauritius time (11:00 UTC).
Conclusion
Ever since Air Mauritius launched their fifth freedom route between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (now not available with COVID-19), I’ve thought about continuing on the flight and actually visiting Port Louis, Mauritius too. The new Mauritius Metro Express is also a pull factor for me to visit.
Thanks to COVID, all these plans came to a screeching halt. It’s nice to get a glimpse of Mauritius here in Singapore, though, with these buses.
Hopefully, if I ever visit Port Louis, Mauritius, one of these buses that visited Singapore would be picking me up from Mauritius Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport on UBS Bus Service 198 to bring me to the downtown at Port Louis Victoria Square Bus Station.
NOTE: All photos were taken from SBS Transit Bus Service 30 on the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE).