bus captain

English

Etymology

From bus +‎ captain.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /bʌs ˈkaptɪn/

Noun

bus captain (plural bus captains)

1. (Singapore) A bus driver who also functions as a bus conductor along with other duties such as ensuring proper care for the bus.
   • 2001, Sintercom, Not ST Forum: Bus fare hike, Google Groups:

     There is hardly any justification for a fare hike just to pay for and retain the bus captains, which was what SBS's Mrs Cheng had used as a justification.

   • 2011, Ruth Cheng, TODAY (Singapore), page 13:

     The bus captain informed her that the journey cost $1.60.

   • 2013, Jeanette Tan, Yahoo! News:

     This includes an annual wage supplement and a year-end annual variable bonus in place of the initial ex-gratia and sign-on bonuses given to Chinese bus captains on two-year contracts like the one He was on.

   • 2016, Kenneth Cheng, TODAY (Singapore) 1 July (Online):

     Go-Ahead Singapore, the country’s fourth public bus operator, has raised the basic starting pay of its local bus captains by about 4.6 per cent, in a move that comes on the back of recent pay hikes announced by two of its rivals.

   • 2017, Zhaki Abdullah, Straits Times:

     The 34-year-old started his training to be a bus captain in February and has been driving with SBS Transit since April this year.

Usage notes

• Commonly used in official websites/advertisements and newspapers when referring to a bus driver in a rather positive way, probably in hopes of attracting more people into the line of work. Bus captains are however referred to as bus driver when reflected in a negative light.

Anagrams

• subcaptain