SportSG to build pickleball courts at sections of Little India bus terminal; to be ready in early 2026

SINGAPORE – Eight pickleball courts will be built in the retrofitted Little India bus terminal, which is located in Race Course Road.

On Oct 10, Sport Singapore (SportSG) called a tender on government procurement site GeBiz for modification works to convert parts of the bus terminal into pickleball courts, including laying out new coating for the floor and installing nets around the entire terminal.

This is the first time a bus facility is being retrofitted for sports activities in Singapore.

Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State for National Development, said in a Facebook post on Oct 24 that the courts will officially open in early 2026 and can be booked via SportSG’s booking platform MyActiveSG+.

Adding that some residents had requested more pickleball courts in the vicinity, Mr Tan – who is also an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC – said he asked SportSG and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to transform one of the sheltered waiting areas of the terminal into pickleball courts a year ago.

He noted that SportSG will convert the terminal for pickleball use from Mondays to Saturdays, since it only operates on Sundays, and described the move as a “novel way” to optimise public spaces for sports use.

At present, the LTA-owned 1,065 sq m bus terminal functions as a pick-up point on Sundays for migrant workers to board private buses from Little India to their dormitories.

Parts of the bus terminal will be converted into eight pickleball courts, measuring at least 128 sq m each.

On how the terminal was chosen, SportSG said it partners other agencies to identify under-utilised spaces that can be repurposed into sport facilities.

It added that since the bus terminal is utilised only on Sundays, it was identified as a suitable space for sport activities such as pickleball during its non-operational days.

Examples of other modified spaces for sports activities include a touch tennis court at the Central Expressway viaduct space in Jalan Bukit Merah and futsal, pickleball courts and a fitness corner at the space under Gali Batu Flyover, said SportSG.

Tender documents show that queue lanes for the bus services will need to be redrawn as some berths will be occupied by the pickleball courts.

Nets with a height of at least 2.2m will also be installed around the perimeter of the terminal to prevent stray balls from escaping onto the roads.

Modification works will start from November and are slated to be completed within six weeks, according to these documents.

The tender will close at 1pm on Oct 27.

Being built next to the Little India bus terminal is the

new 10ha Farrer Park estate

, where some 1,600 new Housing Board flats and new sports facilities – including a jogging track and sports centre – will be located.

One of the upcoming Build-To-Order projects there is

Farrer Park Fields

, which has 1,274 two-room flexi, three-room and four-room flats. It will be completed in the second quarter of 2028.

Mr Tan said the new pickleball courts at the bus terminal will complement the new Cambridge sports field in Norfolk Road – slated to open in early 2026 – and the upcoming Farrer Park sports hub in the renewed Farrer Park estate.

Pickleball noise in residential areas

has recently become a hot topic

due to the sharp sounds produced when these plastic balls strike hard paddles and ricochet off the floor.