Smoking SMRT bus in Singapore’s Punggol revives questions over Mercedes-Benz Citaro fire incidents

Passengers were forced to alight after smoke was seen coming from the rear of an SMRT bus in Punggol. — AsiaOne pic

First Published: Sunday, 18 Oct 2026 3:13 PM MYT

SINGAPORE, Oct 18 — Passengers onboard a SMRT bus were forced to alight at Punggol after the back of the vehicle started emitting smoke yesterday evening.

A video posted on social media shows more than 10 passengers getting off the vehicle calmly at a bus stop after Punggol Road. Some of them can be seen going back into the bus to tap their EZ-Link cards.

The incident is believed to have occurred on SMRT bus service 110, which plys the Buangkok-Changi Airport route, as a few passengers were also seen carrying luggages.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, the incident took place at a bus stop near the junction of Tampines Expressway (TPE) and Punggol Road.

After watching the video, some netizens wondered if the bus model is a Mercedes-Benz Citaro, which has been involved in several cases of bus fires this year.

AsiaOne has reached out to SMRT for more information.

Bus fires

In the first half of 2026, at least three cases of public bus fire involving this bus model were reported, according to the Ministry of Transport. No one was injured in the incidents.

In February, an SBS Transit bus went up in flames along the Pan Island Expressway (PIE). A month later, another SBS Transit bus caught fire while travelling along Tampines Expressway (TPE). A third bus was engulfed in flames near Woodgrove Primary School in May.

Responding to a parliamentary question in August, Senior Minister of State for Transport Murali Pillai said investigations showed that fire incidents involving Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses were caused by failures of different parts.

There is no indication of a common underlying cause, and the parts involved were also within their manufacturer-recommended useful life, he added.

As a precaution, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) also instructed public bus operators to carry out additional inspections on the Mercedes-Benz buses, and no abnormalities were found.

The authority is working with bus operators to improve the inspection regime for older buses and assess whether additional preventive measures can be implemented to reduce risk of fire, he said. — AsiaOne