ISB Advertising: Transforming Campus Mobility Through Electrification

The Campus Services team, formerly known as the Office of Campus Amenities, is the department in charge of the ISB services. As part of the push towards e-buses from 2022, they launched a contest inviting NUS students to design a promotional bus wrap. This wrap would highlight NUS’ efforts to transform campus mobility through electrification.

The winner of the bus wrap contest was announced on 22 November as Yong Yi Ann of NUS Business School. She won a Samsung Galaxy S22 5G as a grand prize, while runners-up Ruth Sit and Pun Ling won $100 each in e-vouchers.

The wrap was applied to a 3-door BYD B12 registered as PD649T, which made its revenue service debut on 30 November 2022 with the wrap on. Yi Ann’s wrap features a distinctive two-tone blue design, standing out on the roads. Both the nearside and the offside feature an image of LiNUS, the mascot of NUS, holding up an electrical plug to reflect that the bus is an electric one. The words “ELECTRIC ISB” are also displayed over the front wheels.

The nearside of PD649T shows LiNUS standing amongst a sea of blue rectangles, representing a cityscape of the future. On the offside, the slogan “Transforming Campus Mobility Through Electrification” is displayed prominently in the middle of the bus. This slogan was one of the contest requirements.

The rear of the bus features a waving LiNUS as well as the text “Our First Electric 3-Door ISB”. While the separation of the dark and light blue occurs at the top in the front, it occurs at the middle in the rear. This reminded me of the sloping red line of the SBS Transit livery.

The positioning of the NUS Campus Life logo near to the front axle of PD649T is suspiciously similar to the positioning of the operator logo on LTA public buses. Technically speaking, however, the operator of the ISB services is ComfortDelGro Bus.

PD649T made its debut on Service A2 on 30 November, joining another two BYD B12s (PD564D and PD660J). It appeared to be replacing PD577S for the rest of the week. The deployment on A2 means that the bus is based at Kent Ridge Terminal and will alternate between A1 and A2, both of which pass NUS Business School as they circumnavigate the campus.