SINGAPORE - The traffic situation outside some schools in Bukit Timah has improved slightly, a few years after measures were introduced in 2020 to keep peak hour congestion manageable.

These include staggering reporting times of schools in the area, and converting Hillcrest Road, where Raffles Girls’ Primary School (RGPS) is located, into a one-way street from 1pm to 2pm during school dismissal.

Traffic during arrival and dismissal times at RGPS has been a perennial problem for many years due to the school’s proximity to Dunearn Road, which is a main road that is used to get to other schools in the area, like Nanyang Girls’ High School and National Junior College.

Parents would need to turn into Hillcrest Road – a two-way road consisting of single lanes – from Dunearn Road in order to enter the school’s compound.

Although the dismissal time at RGPS is 1.20pm, parents are allowed to drive in to pick up their children only at 1.40pm.

In an advisory notice sent to parents in June 2023, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that it will not allow vehicles to wait along Dunearn Road and Hillcrest Road ahead of time before the school gate opens at 1.40pm.

Ms Ang Kai Shin, a grassroots volunteer who leads the traffic task force in Bukit Timah, said that regular enforcement was needed to help motorists keep to the arrangement of Hillcrest Road being a one-way street.

“The school also needed help to discourage cars from picking up and dropping off students along the road, as well as parking obstructively, which were dangerous practices and also exacerbated the congestion,” said Ms Ang.

In 2021, LTA added another zebra crossing along Hillcrest Road and some safety features at a crossing near the bus stop at Tan Kah Kee MRT station.

Still, parents continue to wait along Dunearn Road as early as 1.10pm to pick their children up, according to checks by The Straits Times in the second week of January.

An RGPS staff member, who declined to be named, said morning drop-offs are not an issue, as students alight from cars quickly and traffic is moving.

He said: “Afternoons are the problem because parents arrive too early and start queuing up along the road. Our gates open only at 1.40pm. But there is definitely less honking and noise, and the residents complain less about these issues.”

A parent who wanted to be known only as Mrs Gill said the situation has improved over the last three years due to efforts of the school and traffic wardens to regulate traffic.

“No one wants to break the law, but there is no other solution on what to do. Dunearn Road is a generally crowded road because of all the schools in the area. If parents come only after 1.40pm, they will end up waiting even longer, and no one wants that,” said the 44-year-old real estate director, who has two daughters in RGPS, in Primary 2 and Primary 4.

Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann, who is an MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, told The Straits Times that road traffic congestion and safety is the most frequently encountered municipal issue in the Bukit Timah division.

She said: “Ultimately it is about finding a reasonable balance between the needs of pedestrians and motorists, visitors and residents. Over the years, my volunteers and I have tackled various kinds of traffic problems, but we also expect new ones to emerge.”

Housewife Sandra Tan, 61, who lives opposite RGPS, said the afternoon dismissal timings and measures are an inconvenience, especially when Hillcrest Road turns into a one-way street.

“Instead of turning left from my house to enter Dunearn Road, I will have to turn right and make a detour to get to the main road,” she said, adding that taxi drivers tend to avoid the area during dismissal time because of its notorious traffic.

Reducing traffic woes

Many other schools around Singapore have implemented similar measures to tackle traffic congestion.

Rosyth School principal Suraj Nair said: “To better support traffic flow, the school also expanded the student drop-off and pick-up points at the end of 2022, and hired an additional security officer to support our staff in arrival and dismissal processes.

“The school also engages neighbourhood community partners and grassroots leaders to seek support and understanding from residents, especially with parents using the adjacent HDB carparks.”

He said significant traffic congestions occur during inclement weather conditions and during major roadworks along Serangoon North Avenue 3 and Avenue 4, where Rosyth School is located.

But the LTA has made changes, like widening roads and adjusting traffic light timings, to improve the traffic flow in the area, he said.

“The traffic situation also stabilises during the course of the year after drivers become more used to the procedures and routines, and self-adjust the time in which they arrive in school,” he added.

A spokesperson for Catholic High School said it used to experience heavy traffic along Bishan Street 22 in the morning, but traffic flow has improved in the past two years.

The school redirected its bus routes in 2022 away from the flow of private cars, and staggered the start times of the primary and secondary sections in 2023. In 2022, the school also started a car-lite day to encourage more students to take public transport to school.

“During peak periods, we engage additional security guards to assist with the direction of traffic flows in the mornings. Where necessary, we also seek the assistance of our colleagues from the Traffic Police to help with the appropriate enforcement work,” said the spokesperson.

Catholic High School also has a WhatsApp chat group involving key stakeholders, including Marymount grassroots volunteers, LTA and the Traffic Police, that monitors the traffic situation and can take immediate action when required.

The Straits Times visited a total of seven schools in January to observe traffic during school peak hours.

Traffic at Rosyth School and Catholic High School during dismissal ran smoothly. Some parents parked at the nearby HDB carparks before walking over to the schools to pick their children up.

At Henry Park Primary School and CHIJ Primary and Secondary (Toa Payoh), cars steadily streamed into their compounds as early as 6.45am. Traffic wardens helped to facilitate the flow of cars going in and out of the schools, signalling them to stop whenever there were pedestrians.

Some parents dropped their kids off at the side gate to avoid the queue, while others parked nearby and walked their children to school.

Ms Zhu Hai Yan, 43, walks her Primary 3 and Primary 5 daughters to CHIJ (Toa Payoh) from their home nearby. But on days when it rains, she and her husband drive their girls to school.

“But we usually come earlier, at about 6.30am, to avoid the congestion,” said Ms Zhu, who works in a clothing store. 

Traffic conditions near Anderson Primary School in Ang Mo Kio get congested during dismissal, when a long line of 50 to 60 cars starts to form around 1.10pm, waiting along a double yellow line outside the school.

Some parents choose to wait until the crowd of cars dies down by 1.50pm before driving straight into the school to pick their children up.

Mr Ken Gerrard, a 71-year-old retiree who was picking up his grandchildren from Anderson Primary School on foot, said cars should not be parked along roads with double yellow lines as it is illegal.

Some residents living near schools are resigned to facing heavy traffic daily.

To avoid the jam along Bartley Road where Maris Stella High School is located, residents at condominium Bartley Ridge use Mount Vernon Road instead, a single-lane road which also becomes quite congested.

To avoid the heavy morning traffic, Mr Adlan Raid, a 26-year-old IT engineer, walks to Bartley MRT station instead of driving to work.

Residents think congestion will get worse when construction works of the Bidadari HDB flats at the junction of Bartley Road and Mount Vernon Road are completed around 2025.

An LTA spokesperson said: “Based on our observations, any traffic slowdown near schools is typically transient and arises from vehicles queuing along the road before the start of school and during dismissal hours.”

Its measures include getting schools to remind parents to plan their arrival time and follow designated locations for pickups and drop-offs instead of waiting along roads, as well as deploying parking wardens to deter illegal parking where necessary. Safety measures like traffic signs and road humps also remind motorists to slow down near schools.