• The Mandarin term “夜猫巴士” is a paraphrase of the English term “Nite Owl”.
• On 23 June 2000, Singapore Bus Service Ltd (renamed SBS Transit in 2001) officially launched four late-night bus routes named “Nite Owl”.
• The four initial Nite Owl services generally followed existing bus routes, except that the routes travelled only in one direction, from the city to the heartlands. The four services terminated at Tampines, Sengkang, Clementi and Boon Lay, respectively. By 2020, the number of Nite Owl bus services had increased to six.
• The initial operating hours of Nite Owl buses were from 12 am to 3 am on weekends and public holidays, with intervals of 20 to 25 minutes.
• In 2020, in line with COVID-19 circuit breaker measures, all Nite Owl bus services were suspended from 8 April. However, these services did not resume on 2 June 2020, the day the circuit breaker was lifted.
• Nite Owl services were officially withdrawn on 30 June 2022, after more than two years of suspension.

The first late-night bus service was the NightRider, introduced by Trans-Island Bus Services Ltd on 10 March 2000. The service began its route in the city and terminated at Yishun, passing through the residential estates of Toa Payoh, Bishan and Ang Mo Kio.