New ‘express feeder’ bus service 979X to serve Yew Tee from March 24
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Service 979X will start from Bukit Panjang interchange and go directly to Yew Tee MRT station.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
SINGAPORE - From March 24, residents living in Choa Chu Kang Crescent and Choa Chu Kang North 7, near Yew Tee MRT station, will be able to get to Bukit Panjang quicker with a new express bus service that will call at fewer stops.
Service 979X, which will be run by public transport operator SMRT, is the second “express feeder” bus service to be launched here under the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) $900 million Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme (BCEP).
Operating only on weekdays between 6.30am and 10am, and 4.15pm and 7.45pm, the new limited-stop service will supplement the existing service 979 that also plies the area.
The new express bus service, announced by Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Alex Yam on Feb 27, will not run on public holidays.
Based on a route map that Mr Yam posted on Facebook, service 979X will start from Bukit Panjang bus interchange and go directly to Yew Tee MRT station.
It will then make seven stops in Choa Chu Kang North 7, Choa Chu Kang Crescent and Choa Chu Kang Drive before returning to the interchange, calling at a bus stop in Upper Bukit Timah Road along the way.
Mr Yam said the new service came out of discussions with LTA, after Yew Tee residents had given feedback about the journey time and extended route of service 979.
With a total runtime of about an hour, service 979, which was introduced in 2015, is a loop service that starts from Bukit Panjang bus interchange, and passes through Woodlands Road and Choa Chu Kang Street 52.
Its route was amended in 2018 so the service could cover more stops in Stagmont Ring and Choa Chu Kang North 5.
Mr Yam, who represents the Yew Tee ward, said discussions with LTA took on greater impetus after the authority said in January that it will build a new underground MRT station near Yew Tee Village by 2035 as part of a planned extension of the Downtown Line from Bukit Panjang to Sungei Kadut.
“I am pleased to share that we have received priority under the BCEP for a limited-stop variant... This new service will reduce the journey time significantly for the north sector,” Mr Yam added.
LTA said in July 2024 when it launched the BCEP that express feeder buses will allow those living in new housing developments a distance from the town centre and major transport nodes to get there faster.
The first such service, 298X, was launched in Tampines on Dec 9, 2024. LTA has said that more are in the pipeline.
Kok Yufeng is a transport correspondent at The Straits Times.
