From the title.. It can be found on todays ST
From Monday-19july Straits Times(From website)
British buses to be Comfortingly familiar
By Neo Hui Min
LONDON - Soon a Singaporean boarding a bus in London may wonder if the driver took a wrong turn and ended up in the British capital by mistake.
That is because it will not be long before bus drivers here start wearing uniforms with a brand that is more familiar back home - ComfortDelgro.
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Even the name of the London black cab booking service Comcab has a familiar ring to it. It, too, is part of the ComfortDelgro group.
One of Singapore's main transport companies is now among the top five players in London's competitive public transport environment. Known here as Metroline, ComfortDelgro's London bus operations have captured 12 per cent of the market share. It services 84 routes, mostly in the capital's north-western areas.
It also handles booking services for about 3,800 cabs in London, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
ComfortDelgro acquired the business in 2000, after bus services here were privatised.
The British subsidiary contributes about $500 million to the group, just under a third of total group turnover. Last year, the total group turnover was $1.8 billion.
Metroline managing director Steve McAleavy said the company has since been actively branding its group's name in its communications.
Industry players who realise the bus company is now Singaporean-owned are always curious to find out what it means to be working for a company so far from home.
'People are used to the idea of working for European companies, but Singapore is over 6,000 miles away and seven or eight hours ahead,' said Mr McAleavy.
'Some people can't get their heads round to the idea of Singapore, it just stretches the imagination because it is so far away.'
Despite the distance, changes have come swiftly since the takeover, he said. The bus fleets have been renewed and buses are getting better engineering.
The Singaporean group has also invested heavily in technology, even fitting buses with a satellite positioning system that tells drivers where the next buses in front and behind them are in relation to their current location.
'If you lived in London you would have experienced waiting ages for a bus, and then all of a sudden, three or four of them would arrive at once,' Mr McAleavy said. 'This new GPRS system helps drivers to gauge the distances between each other.'
About 280 of its 1,000 or so buses now boast the system, and it will soon be fitted to the rest.
The modernisation of the operations is a significant change to a sector which has not always been known for technological innovation.
The company is now trying to increase its market share against 31 other bus companies in London. It is also awaiting the coming privatisation of a quarter of Dublin's state-owned bus services, with intentions to buy some of the routes.
Finance director Steve Ellis said: 'We have big ambitions.'