Two-way services on the Punggol LRT West Loop will start on Sept 29, making commuting more convenient for residents.
Currently, trains run in a single direction from Sam Kee station to Soo Teck station until 3pm, and then in the opposite direction from Soo Teck station to Sam Kee station until the LRT service ends.
Senior Minister of State for Transport Janil Puthucheary announced the start of bi-directional services during a visit to Punggol yesterday afternoon.
"The population of Punggol has grown quite significantly," said Dr Janil, who is also MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. "We need the bi-directional loops because we need the increased capacity. There are just more passengers to carry."
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will also be beefing up services for the Punggol LRT East Loop and both LRT loops in Sengkang by adding an additional train car at selected times.
The average daily ridership for the Sengkang and Punggol LRT lines has gone up by around 6 per cent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year.
Dr Janil also announced the latest version of LTA's MyTransport app, which has been redesigned and has new features and more customisation options.
The app now includes parking information for all Housing Board and Urban Redevelopment Authority carparks, and for selected commercial buildings in the Orchard area and central business district.
Users can view live updates of road conditions via traffic cameras, and decide which MRT or highway push notifications they want to receive. For instance, a regular user of the Downtown Line may choose to disable notifications for other lines.
Mr Peter Quek, LTA's chief information officer and group director for information technology, cyber security and digital services, said the new app was developed based on user feedback on the old app. The old version will continue to be available for about three months before it is taken offline.
"I think the new app is an improvement over the old one," Mr Quek said. "For example, it has a much better and more intuitive user interface. It also provides a lot more real-time information."
