Free off-peak MRT, LRT rides for commuters in north-east S'pore from Dec 27 to ease morning crowds

SINGAPORE – Passengers in Singapore’s north-east will soon ride for free on their first rail ride – if they tap in at six stations on the North East Line (NEL) or the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) system during morning off-peak hours.

This is part of the Government’s latest push to reduce train congestion during the morning rush hour.

From Dec 27, the free rides will apply to passengers who enter the NEL stations of Punggol Coast, Punggol, Sengkang, Buangkok, Hougang or Kovan, or any SPLRT station, before 7.30am, or between 9am and 9.45am on weekdays, excluding public holidays.

It will also be easier to join

the Travel Smart Journeys (TSJ) programme,

an existing reward scheme encouraging north-east passengers to change their travel modes or times to avoid the morning peak.

The move to nudge passengers to avoid the rush hour with free train rides aims to ease crowding on the NEL, so commuters will see “fewer missed trains”, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Oct 18.

Announcing the moves at Punggol Coast Bus Interchange on the same day, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said the free morning off-peak rail rides will operate as a pilot scheme for at least a year, and the results will be evaluated.

LTA said the results will inform any future adjustments, such as potential revisions to the cut-off times for the scheme’s eligibility, or extending the scheme to other rail lines.

Passengers do not need to register for the free rides, as long as they tap in and out using the same fare card or payment mode, said LTA.

The authority told The Straits Times the Government will fully fund the scheme, and it will not contribute to future fare increases. The cost of the scheme will depend on the extent to which passengers adjust their travel patterns.

It is also separate from the upcoming public transport fare changes announced recently, added LTA. From Dec 27, fares will

climb 5 per cent

, with adult card fares rising nine or 10 cents for each bus or train journey.

This is the second time free rail rides are being offered in Singapore to ease congestion.

The first was between 2013 and 2017, when the Public Transport Council (PTC) offered free train rides to commuters who exited MRT stations in the city area before 7.45am. It led to about 7 per cent of commuters shifting their travel away from the morning peak period.

Mr Siow said the hope is for the same proportion of commuters to change their travel patterns this time.

Besides those entering through the six NEL stations or the SPLRT, other commuters will still get the existing 50-cent discount on their rail trips when they tap in before 7.45am at any station islandwide on weekdays.

This discount is offered under PTC’s morning pre-peak fare scheme, rolled out in 2017.

The NEL typically sees heavy use during peak hours.

Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who is also an MP for Punggol GRC, said residents have given him feedback about the NEL becoming “very heavily loaded” due to factors such as population growth and the return to workplaces after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Siow said in a written parliamentary reply in September that most passengers are able to board the first train that arrives at a station.

However, during peak hours, some may have to wait an extra two minutes to board the second train.

Mr Siow acknowledged on Oct 18 that this “doesn’t make for a fantastic experience”.

Another reason for encouraging off-peak travel is to ensure the train load is kept manageable for the resilience of the rail network.

He noted that the stations between Kovan and Punggol Coast on the NEL are currently not connected to any other MRT line, adding: “When the train line is crowded, (and) if there is a delay or disruption, things are harder to manage.”

Public transport company SBS Transit, which runs the NEL and SPLRT, operates up to 40 NEL trains during the peak hours of 7.30am to 9.30am, up from 36 trains in 2024, Mr Siow said previously.

Eligibility criteria for programme removed

Also from Dec 27, LTA will remove the eligibility criteria for commuters joining the TSJ programme, which offers rebates of up to 80 per cent of the journey fare on selected public transport trips.

Currently, the TSJ awards points to commuters who adjust their commute to take the NEL at off-peak hours or switch to City Direct Services, which are buses plying express routes between housing estates and the city. These points can be redeemed for credit to offset transport fares.

At present, to qualify, passengers must have tapped in at any of the six selected NEL stations or any SPLRT stop between 7.15am and 8.45am on at least six days in the past 30 days. This is to prove that they regularly use the rail lines during the morning peak.

With the change, commuters no longer have to do so and can join the TSJ immediately upon registration via the SimplyGo app and adding a travel card to their account.

LTA said it recognised a broader base of participants could help ease crowding, and that removing the eligibility criteria would allow more passengers to benefit.

The eligible windows for the rebates will also be changed starting Dec 27, to align with the new scheme offering free rail rides.

To get the 80 per cent rebate on their bus journeys, commuters will need to start their trips before 7.30am, instead of the current requirement of before 7.15am.

Those who begin their bus and train trips between 8.45am and 8.59am will no longer be eligible for rebates, as LTA nudges passengers to shift their commutes beyond 9am.

The 80 per cent rebate will also be given to those who travel by bus between 9am and 9.45am.

The changes mean passengers travelling during the morning off-peak hours will get to ride free on trains and receive an 80 per cent rebate on the bus portion of their journeys under the TSJ.

From mid-December,

five new City Direct Services for the north-east region

will be introduced under the TSJ.

LTA said these services will connect Hougang, Sengkang and Punggol residents to the Central Business District and Orchard shopping precinct. More details will be made known in November.

These services come on top of the 11 bus routes currently under the programme, including City Direct Services 675, 676, 677 and 678.

The TSJ began in 2020 as a trial with residents using the Punggol, Sengkang and Buangkok MRT stations and the SPLRT heading towards eastern Singapore.

It initially focused on encouraging commuters to switch from MRT to bus travel during peak hours and was expanded to more bus services in 2023.

On Jan 2, 2025, more bus services were added, and the reward point scheme was extended to cover train journeys for the first time.

LTA told ST that from January to September, about 8,000 passengers benefited from incentives totalling around $370,000 by shifting their commutes on the NEL or switching their journeys to bus services under the programme.

In those nine months, the NEL’s hourly ridership on weekdays before 7.30am was about 45 per cent less than in the period from 7.30am to 9am. Ridership after 9am was about 40 per cent less than between 7.30am and 9am.

On Oct 18, DPM Gan, Mr Siow, Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling, and Punggol GRC MP Yeo Wan Ling officially opened the Punggol Coast Bus Interchange, which started operations in June.

The interchange is Singapore’s 15th integrated transport hub. It is connected to NEL’s Punggol Coast station, as well as Punggol Coast Mall.