[SINGAPORE] Transport giant ComfortDelGro and its subsidiary, SBS Transit, will be moving out of their long-standing Braddell Road headquarters, as the lease on the premises expires in August 2026.

 

Affected staff will be relocated progressively from October to the company&rsquo s other locations, depending on the nature of their work, The Straits Times understands.

 

Apart from the Braddell head office, ComfortDelGro&rsquo s other properties here include bus depots in Bedok and Bukit Batok, vehicle workshops in Ubi, Loyang, Senoko and Pandan Road, inspection centres in Yishun and Changi, as well as premises in Sin Ming.

 

SBS Transit also has administrative offices in some of the bus and train depots that are built and owned by the Land Transport Authority. They include Sengkang Rail Depot and the recently constructed Sengkang West Bus Depot.

 

According to ComfortDelGro&rsquo s 2024 annual report, the current lease on its Braddell headquarters is for a period of 36 years and 10 months.

 

This was preceded by an earlier lease that began in 1974, which was taken out by what was then known as Singapore Bus Services, according to annual reports from the 1980s.

 

The bus operator later became a subsidiary of DelGro Corporation, and was rebranded in 2001 as SBS Transit. DelGro Corporation then merged with taxi company Comfort Group in 2003 to form today&rsquo s ComfortDelGro.

 

Asked for comment, ComfortDelGro did not say why it did not extend or renew its current lease on the Braddell site. It also did not answer queries about where its new corporate headquarters will be located.

 

The company&rsquo s head office today sits on a 66,441 sq m plot of land at 205 Braddell Road, next to the CTE. Equivalent to the size of about nine football fields, the site houses a range of facilities, including office space, workshops, diesel pumps and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

 

SBS Transit also has a bus park at the Braddell location, where it stores and maintains public buses.

 

SBS Transit spokeswoman Grace Wu said the public transport operator has been in Braddell since 1980. This was when the buildings there were officially opened.

 

By end-2025, SBS Transit will relocate its office staff to Sengkang Rail Depot and Sengkang West Bus Depot, Wu said.

 

Meanwhile, operations at the Braddell bus park will be shifted to SBS Transit&rsquo s Hougang Bus Depot. This will involve moving about 200 buses to the depot at Defu Avenue 1.

 

Wu added: &ldquo It will be business as usual with no impact expected to our day-to-day operations.&rdquo

 

For cabbies, ComfortDelGro said its maintenance workshop on its Braddell Road premises will continue to serve taxi drivers in the central region, until a new five-storey automotive hub in Ubi opens in the first quarter of 2026 to take its place.

 

&ldquo There will be a planned overlap period to ensure a smooth and seamless transition for our cabbies. Our priority is to maintain continuous, uninterrupted maintenance services during this transition,&rdquo said a ComfortDelGro spokesperson.

 

Construction of the company&rsquo s new automotive hub, located at 320 Ubi Road 3, started in October 2024, at the same address as its previous maintenance workshop in Ubi.

 

When completed in February 2026, the new facility will have more than 250 service bays, including 32 for buses. It will offer a range of services from EV sales, car rental, maintenance and accident repairs, as well as EV technician training and EV charging, ComfortDelGro said previously.

 

As for development plans for the Braddell Road site after it is vacated, the land remains zoned for transport facilities use, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority&rsquo s 2019 Master Plan. That means it can be used only for the parking of vehicles or facilities such as a transport depot, driving circuit or petrol station.

 

The Braddell plot is owned by industrial developer JTC Corporation.

 

In response to queries, the government statutory board said it was unable to comment on the terms of the lease agreement, citing confidentiality reasons.

Revenue rises 16.4% to S$1.2 billion, whereas operating costs climbs at a slower pace of 15%

 

[SINGAPORE] Transport behemoth ComfortDelGro : C52 -0.65% posted a 19 per cent rise in its net profit of S$48.3 million for the quarter ended March on contributions from last year&rsquo s acquisitions and improved margins.

 

It said in an update for the first quarter of FY2025 published on Wednesday (May 14) that revenue rose 16.4 per cent year on year to S$1.2 billion, whereas operating costs climbed at a slower pace of 15 per cent.

 

The mainboard-listed company was confident that its cabbies would not jump ship to Grab. At the Apr 22 annual general meeting, the transport operator&rsquo s group chief executive Cheng Siak Kian sought to assure shareholders about the loyalty of its own taxi drivers.

 

Grab obtained a taxi operator licence in April.

 

Cheng said the award to Grab to increase the taxi fleet size in Singapore was not unexpected.

 

He added that ComfortDelGro cabbies would recognise the value of the company&rsquo s ecosystem, including quality of vehicles and support and fuel discounts, and stay on for quality of the drivers&rsquo support and security.

 

Cheng noted that the greater concern to the taxi operator is the shortage of taxi drivers, adding that there are talks with the regulators to level the playing field between the taxi and the private hire industry, and ensure sustainability of earnings for the taxi drivers.

 

In its update, the transport group commented that overseas contributions accounted for more than half the total revenue for the first time in its history its acquisitions in Europe and Australia drove up foreign contributions to 52.6 per cent from 43.3 per cent in the year-ago period.

 

Revenue from Singapore was lower, contributing 47.4 per cent, after the Jurong West bus package was handed over to a new operator late last year.

 

However, the local business was responsible for 60.2 per cent of the group&rsquo s operating profit, and benefited from cost control and internal efficiencies, ComfortDelGro said.

 

By segment, public transport earned a higher operating profit of S$36.7 million for the group, up 52.9 per cent from S$23.8 million.

 

ComfortDelGro&rsquo s taxi and private hire reported an 11.9 per cent rise in operating profit to S$32.1 million, while other transport swung to an operating profit of S$700,000 from an operating loss of S$1 million.

 

Car and non-vehicle inspection and testing services generated S$9 million in operating profit, up 8.4 per cent, while other segments reported a 150 per cent surge in operating profit to S$3 million.