Extension of Operating Hours for Train and Bus Services on 26 March

Joint Media Statement by LTA, SBST and SMRT
Update on Public Transport Operating Hours

MRT and LRT train services will end later tonight, 26 March 2015 for members of the public who wish to pay their last respects to the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew at Parliament House.

The last MRT trains will leave City Hall, Raffles Place and Clarke Quay stations at about 12.45am instead of the usual around 11.50pm. LRT services and 41 feeder bus services will also run for extended service hours to match the arrival of the last trains to provide connectivity between the train stations and the residential areas.

For members of the public who are going to or leaving Parliament House after the last trains, SBST and SMRT will operate their Night Bus services (that normally operate only on Fridays, Saturdays and eves of Public Holidays) from 12.00am to 6.00am. They will provide connections to major residential areas such as Jurong, Bukit Batok, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Sengkang and Tampines. These 13 bus services will operate at intervals of 20 minutes up to 3.00am, and 30 minutes thereafter to 6.00am.

The public transport operators are not able to run train services the entire night tonight as they did last night, because of the need for them to carry out maintenance of the trains and tracks to ensure that our MRT and LRT services run safely and reliably. Such work can only be done at night after revenue hours, and the operators did not carry out the works last night because they ran the trains 24 hours to cater to the public who were paying their last respects to Mr Lee on the first night of the Lying in State. Both SMRT and SBST will deploy additional staff to ensure that maintenance work that could not be done last night due to the non-stop train operations, are completed tonight despite the shorter engineering hours.

Demand for train services last night at the City Hall, Raffles Place, Clarke Quay and Chinatown MRT stations was low. Commuter traffic data indicated that our MRT trains which were running between midnight last night and 6.00am this morning at reduced frequencies of 15-20 minutes, were on average carrying less than 10% of its maximum capacity. Many commuters also took alternative travel modes such as private cars and taxis. We expect lower demand for public transport tonight compared to last night. Hence, tonight, the slightly extended hours of operation of the trains and feeders, and full-night operation of the 13 Night Bus services, should be able to meet demand. LTA will continue to monitor the level of demand tonight and adjust as needed.

Commuters can visit 
https://www.mytransport.sg, https://www.sbstransit.com.sg and https://www.smrt.com.sg for more information.

Please refer to the attached posters for more details.