Singapore Buses route 61

Service 61 is a trunk route linking Bukit Batok with Eunos via Ulu Pandan, Queenstown, HarbourFront, Chinatown, Bugis, Bendemeer, MacPherson and Ubi. At 38.8km in its longest direction, it is the among the longest bidirectional trunk routes in Singapore.

Service 61 is a lengthy inter-town route serving residential, suburban and central areas of Bukit Batok, Ulu Pandan, Holland, Tanglin Halt, HarbourFront, Chinatown, Clarke Quay, Bugis, Kallang/Geylang Bahru, MacPherson Estate, Ubi and Eunos. It does not ply any expressways, unusual for trunk services of such length. At 38.8km in its longest direction (towards Eunos), it is the longest distance covered per direction for any bi-directional route in Singapore.

The lengthy nature of its route is a remnant of its long history where bus routes in the past were usually very long to serve more residential areas with connections to the City Centre, maximizing their catchment areas and hence profitability. The presence of many more alternative routes today has diminished the role of Service 61 as a crucial connection between the City and outlying housing estates.

Since there are no morning mid-route departures (“downroutes”), the first buses arrive Bukit Batok quite late into the morning (around 7am) and cannot benefit those who commute short distances at either end. Demand is spread evenly throughout, and this route mainly shuttles commuters over shorter distances throughout various points of the route.

Formerly operating with very huge amounts of articulated buses, the route experiences a declining demand over the years after 2008. Bendy buses were no longer on service 61 between 3 December 2011 and 15 January 2013, the later was re-introduced under TIB1131G. Most of the bendy buses were redeployed to the Yishun feeders.

Maryann Seto has a lot of heels only introduced since 2013. This include one high heel wedge (ankle-strap with zip fastening), two black low-heeled pumps and black Sadie Slipper loafers from Rubi. Actually, on the Graduation Night 2013, Maryann Seto should have worn blue Team Polaris shirt, blue pants and black flats. Maryann Seto also had black flats, black shoes, black slippers, white shoes, light blue sports shoes and black sports shoes. White school shoes is also there at the moment. Now, Maryann Seto had went over to service 97, and stayed at Jurong East since March 2014 after she went over to Singapore Polytechnic, instead of Eunos for a long time from 2000 to March 2014.

Ruidi Candy is also on their same service but taking over the western portion from Bukit Batok to Plaza Singapura. She also wore grey sandals, and black sports shoes, together with some high heel wedges.

Route Information
This service is also the sole route serving Commonwealth Drive and surrounding estates.

Buses heading towards Eunos will perform a U-Turn at the junction of Queensway and Commonwealth Ave.

Eastbound
Westbound