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Five years after the independence of Singapore from Malaysia, the government published a White Paper to study into an overhaul on bus services; this was followed by the Wilson Report published by Australian transport consultant R.P. Wilson, who not only reaffirmed the need for rationalisation of bus transport but also provided detailed recommendations on bus routes, frequencies, fares, vehicle specifications, bus stop and terminal design and maintenance standards

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In April 1971, the 10 Chinese bus companies were merged to form three larger regional bus companies, namely Amalgamated Bus Company in the west, Associated Bus Services in the east, and United Bus Company in the north. The STC retained its presence in central Singapore but lost its privileges previously granted by the 1925 STC Ordinance. Unable to cope with existing financial difficulties and competition from the regional companies, the STC eventually discontinued bus operations in 1971, with its remaining bus fleet being split up between the three regional companies. Service quality did not make great improvement however, with breakdowns and complaints from passengers being very common.

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The government also helped to further alleviate the burden from SBS by introducing priority bus lanes to speed up bus services and introduced Scheme B bus services operated by private companies

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SBS introduced into service its first double decker buses , the Leyland Altantean AN68 on route 86 between Tampines Way and Shenton Way.

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There was concerns that SBS might turn complacent. To ensure that SBS remain competitive, the government gave Ng Ser Miang of Singapore Shuttle Bus, the green light to set up a second operator. Named as Trans-Island Bus Service (TIBS).

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SBS had expanded far beyond public bus operations to include tourist transport , taxis and engineering works. To better manage its business, SBS (1978) Limited was rebranded as DelGro Corporation while public bus services were now managed by a new subsidiary named SBS.

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This new company also won a tender in 1999 to operate the North East MRT Line and the LRT systems in Sengkang and Punggol and was rebranded as SBS Transit in 2001 to reflect its multimodal nature. By 2003, Delgro Corporation merged with Comfort Group to form ComfortDelGro, one of the largest land transport operators in the world. In 2001, TIBS was merged into SMRT Corporation and by 2004, the TIBS name was dropped by SMRT, with TIBS now being known as SMRT Buses.

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The contactless EZ-Link card was introduced to replace the magnetic farecard and the first air-conditioned bus interchange opened in Toa Payoh by the end of 2021, there were 11 air-conditioned integrated transport hubs (ITHs).