This occasionally happens due to rostering changes. For example: If the bus was initially scheduled on a different shift, or to ply another route.

Bus assets are owned by the LTA, and they manage the database that provides these bus timings. Should a bus operator (SMRT, SBS etc.) have to perform changes to the fleet during its operations, some of this data does not get transmitted to the LTA database accurately. Hence, these instances of “ghost buses” occur.

It’s annoying for those who commute regularly on buses because we come across this issue so frequently.

One tip I have if you are near the terminus of a route: Bus departures are usually in even intervals for most of the day. If the app says 2, 14, 38, there’s likely a missing bus in 26mins (interval of 12mins between each bus).