In the early 1920s, the tram system in Singapore was in a poor state due to lack of funds and, in 1922, Shanghai Electric Construction Company took over its management.

To inaugurate the service, an illuminated trolleybus ran between Bras Basah, Geylang, and the Singapore General Hospital that evening.

[11] As more deaths occurred, the coroner continued to make the same request and, in November 1927, STC decided to install a "central rod at the second-class entrance of each trolleybus.

In 1933, the Malaya Tribune claimed that the trolleybus system was thought to be the largest in the world with a total route length of 24.96 miles (40.17 km) served by a fleet of 108 buses.

[15] In August 1939, new regulations for trolleybuses were implemented that limited their top speed to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h), prohibited advertising be placed on their exterior, and mandated that they be conveniently and brightly lit.

[16] After the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in February 1942, operation of the network was taken over by the local administration and trolleybus services were more or less back to normal by May.

[17] First-class service ended in 1943 with the introduction of new single-class trolleybuses; the new fares were based on the prior second-class rates.

[5] Initially, these trolleybuses had several issues, with a Malaya Tribune reporter noting that they frequently left the wires, a result of the poor construction of the trolley poles' contacts.

[26] After the war in 1945, as part of its rehabilitation programme, the STC ordered 60 new trolleybuses fitted with electrical equipment and pneumatic tyres; the bodies were constructed in Singapore.