Bus Uncle
@sgbusunclebot
FreeOfficialEN
Bus Uncle tells you when the next bus reaches your stop in Singapore and how to get anywhere on the island by bus, MRT and on foot. Free, with a cheeky Singlish personality and the occasional sponsored message.
Key features
- Live bus arrival times by stop number or location
- How full each bus is and whether it is a double-decker
- Directions combining bus, MRT and walking
- A joke every Monday
- Free, funded by sponsored messages
What Bus Uncle does
Bus Uncle began in 2016 on Facebook Messenger as a side project of two Singaporean developers and arrived on Telegram in December 2017, where it soon became far more popular than on Messenger. The idea is simple: send a bus stop number or share your location, and the bot replies with arrival times for the buses serving that stop, along with how full each one is and whether a double-decker is coming.
Its second job is directions. Name the place you need to reach and Bus Uncle lays out the journey across buses, the MRT and the walking legs between them — handy for a visitor, or for anyone heading to an unfamiliar corner of the island.
What sets it apart from a timetable app is the character. The bot answers as a snarky local uncle in Singlish and sends a joke every Monday. The team behind it, which went on to build the chatbot platform BotDistrikt, pays for the service with sponsored content placed inside the conversation and targeted by location and usage, so expect the odd branded message. A privacy policy is published on the BotDistrikt site.
It covers Singapore only. Outside the city it has nothing to offer, and the interface is English throughout.
How to start
- Open @sgbusunclebot and press Start
- Send a bus stop number or share your location
- To plan a trip, tell the bot where you want to go
Pricing and limits
Free
Pros / Cons
- Arrival times in one message, no app to install
- Directions across bus, MRT and walking
- Running since 2017, about 17,000 monthly users
- Singapore only
- Sponsored messages inside the chat
Alternatives
Compare Bus Uncle with
Score breakdown
| Criterion | Weight | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Functionality | 25 | 8 / 10 | |
| Reliability & speed | 15 | 8 / 10 | |
| Popularity & trust | 15 | 7 / 10 | |
| Price & free tier | 10 | 10 / 10 | |
| Usability | 10 | 8 / 10 | |
| Safety & privacy | 10 | 7 / 10 | |
| Freshness | 5 | 7 / 10 | |
| Localization | 5 | 10 / 10 | |
| No intrusive ads | 5 | 5 / 10 | |
| Score | 100 | 78.5 |
FAQ
Does it work outside Singapore?
No. Arrival times and directions cover Singapore's bus and MRT network only.
Why does a free bot send ads?
Sponsored content in the chat is how the team has paid for the service since its early days. Ads are targeted by how and where the bot is used, not sold as personal data, according to its makers.
Technical details
- Inline mode
- Mini App
- Works in groups
- Works in channels
- Accepts voice
- Accepts files
- Requires phone number
- Requires registration
- Shows ads
