‘Inconvenient, confusing’: Thousands of passengers faced longer journeys after East-West Line disruption

SINGAPORE – It took Mr Joel Tan more than 30 minutes to reach the front of the queue for the bus bridging service in Buona Vista near the train station, after a full day’s work at the Singapore General Hospital.

The 27-year-old healthcare worker was travelling home towards Jurong East from Outram Park MRT station, and had started queueing for the bus bridging service along North Buona Vista Drive at about 7.10pm on Sept 25.

He knew the East-West Line (EWL) train service disruption that day would extend his commute home by about an hour. He had also expected it to be chaotic since it was the rush hour.

But he was “not too bothered” as there was a continuous stream of buses.

Mr Tan was among thousands of passengers whose journeys were affected by a long-drawn service disruption between Boon Lay and Queenstown MRT stations on the EWL that lasted nearly a day, starting from around 9.30am.

The disruption would persist into Sept 26, with no train services between Jurong East and Buona Vista stations in both directions, said the Land Transport Authority.

Free regular bus and bus bridging services between the affected stations were provided from around 10am.

At around 2.45pm, SMRT, which operates the EWL, announced that it would run separate shuttle train services at intervals of 10 minutes between Buona Vista and Queenstown stations, and between Jurong East and Boon Lay stations, from 5pm till the end of service to cater to evening peak-period travel.

But some passengers were confused by the shuttle train operations.

For instance, trains from the city going towards Buona Vista station did not go all the way there.

They stopped at Queenstown station, where passengers had to alight to take the shuttle train from Queenstown to Buona Vista.

The shuttle train would then head back to Queenstown, where it would stop for passengers to alight. Passengers heading to the city had to transfer to another train.

Ms Lam Pei Wen, 37, found the transfer process for the shuttle train services at Queenstown station “very confusing”, as the announcements on the train and platform were not loud enough for her to hear.

But the accountant, who was travelling from Raffles Place to her home in Clementi, was lucky enough to board the shuttle train service at Queenstown almost immediately at 5.10pm, as it had arrived before she alighted from the original train she was on.

Over at Queenstown station, Mr Park Jong-rak, who was travelling from Raffles Place to Buona Vista, was also confused when his train stopped at Queenstown at around 5.30pm, as he said no announcements were made on the train.

The data analyst in his mid-30s spotted a large group of commuters rushing out and decided to follow them, as staff outside the train were shouting instructions on the platform. He then found out that he had to disembark from the train before transferring to the shuttle train service to go to Buona Vista.

Madam S.Y. Ching said it was good that there were still trains headed to Buona Vista.

Acknowledging that the staff were trying their best to control the crowd at the platform, the 54-year-old administrative executive was relieved that there was still a way for her to return home to Clementi from her Shenton Way office, rather than having no train services at all.

Using the shuttle train, she got to Buona Vista, where she then used the bus bridging service to return home.

Ms Melissa Yuen, 32, said the staff were very helpful when she approached them with questions.

The manager chose to take the MRT train to Buona Vista and then a bus to Boon Lay where she lives, instead of taking a direct bus from her workplace in City Hall as it would take much longer, even with the delay in train services.

From about 6.30pm at Boon Lay station, some passengers going towards Jurong East station were not allowed to board some of the shuttle trains that arrived, and had to wait for the next one.

Civil servant Shirley Leung was confused about the shuttle train services. Travelling from Joo Koon station, she did not know that she had to alight at Boon Lay station to take the shuttle service towards Jurong East.

The 35-year-old had tried booking a private-hire car ride to try to get to Clementi in time for her night classes, but decided against it as it would have cost her $44 from Joo Koon to Clementi, which was much more than usual.

Outside Buona Vista station at around 7.30pm, The Straits Times observed that there were at least 500 people queueing for bus bridging services to Jurong East.

The line stretched from the bus stop of Exit D of the station to the entrance of the Ministry of Education headquarters about 100m away.

Long queues also formed at the bus stops near Jurong East and Queenstown stations from 5.45pm.

It was a similar picture soon after the EWL disruption occurred in the morning.

Entry to the EWL platforms at the Buona Vista and Jurong East stations was blocked, with passengers being directed to various exits for bus services.

Ms Dimitria Hamzah, who was travelling with her seven-month-old baby, said she found out about the train disruption when she alighted at Buona Vista station at around 10.45am. She was planning to transfer from the Circle Line at Buona Vista, and switch to the EWL to travel to Clementi.

The 26-year-old administrative executive said she was not rushing for appointments, so she was not too bothered by the delay.

At Clementi station, retiree Fathiah Sahdan was waiting at around 11.45am to board a less crowded bus towards Jurong East to get home. The 74-year-old said her lunch preparation would be delayed due to the longer than usual wait.

“I can’t get angry, if so, my high blood pressure will rise,” she said.

At 1.45pm, Yeo Rui Xuan at Jurong East station said that figuring out where to get on the bridging buses was a “messy” and “inconvenient” process for passengers, as they had no proper guidance.

The 17-year-old student added that she was confused about where to head to, but would try to take the bridging bus going towards Tanjong Pagar, where she was meeting her friends.

Similarly, insurance agent Lim Kian Seng, 66, who was waiting at around 2pm for a bus bridging service to travel from Queenstown to Boon Lay, said the announcements being broadcast at the MRT stations were not clear.

He said in Mandarin: “It is okay the breakdown is happening now, but if it happens later during peak hours when people are getting off work, it will be quite bad.”

Mr Lim added that more signs should be placed at the station exits and entrances.

Art studio manager C.A. Cheah, who did not want to give her full name, said this was the first time she experienced a train service disruption in Singapore, and that it was “no big deal” for her.

Ms Cheah, who is in her 30s, was travelling from Bedok to Bukit Batok in the afternoon.

She had been waiting for a bus for about 15 minutes.

She said that, ideally, the bus frequency should match that of the MRT trains.

But she noted that it might not be feasible, as the passenger volume might be too large for the buses to handle.

Several commuters told ST they were upset because they were late for work in the morning.

Ms Junis, a consultant who gave only her first name, said she was at least one hour late getting to her workplace in Queenstown.

The queue for the bridging buses near Jurong East station was too long, she said, adding that she wished she had received the update sooner so she could have planned her journey better.

Madam Uma Raju, 54, was also affected while she was on her way to work at around 10am.

When the documents executive boarded the train at Boon Lay station, the train stopped en route to Lakeside station, before it returned to Boon Lay station. All passengers were then told to disembark from the train.

She was late for work by more than an hour, after waiting for two bridging bus services – one from Boon Lay to Buona Vista, and another from Buona Vista to Queenstown.

There are some people, like Mr Hu, chairman of the Henry Park Parents’ Association at Henry Park Primary School, who have stepped up to offer help to people with transport trouble due to the train service disruption.

Mr Hu, who gave only his last name, said he has plans to activate parents to ferry Primary 6 pupils taking their Primary School Leaving Examination who need help travelling from Queenstown MRT station to Henry Park Primary School on the morning of Sept 26.

He was inspired by an overseas case where taxi drivers worked together during a train breakdown to ferry students from train stations to their schools for the national examinations, and wanted to help other Primary 6 children since some parents have time to spare.