The Sengkang LRT West Loop was opened in January 2005, 2 years after the opening of the East loop in 2003. Since the beginning of its operation, LRT trains serving the West Loop only ply in one direction all day till recently in January 2010 where during weekdays on peak hours, the trains will ply on both directions. This was indeed welcome.
However, with the growth in the population in Anchorvale and Fernvale, and increased ridership, residents have been experiencing congestion especially during the peak hours. This problem has been highlighted to LTA and SBST with frequent requests to improve on the frequency.
From 8th August, 34 more trips will be added daily during the weekday peak hours. This will reduce waiting time by about a minute on average. Another 47 trips will be added throughout the day on weekends. This will definitely help alleviate the current congestion faced on a daily basis by residents.
I will continue to monitor the ridership closely and will request for full bidirectional service (full day) once we have met the target. I believe this will not be too long taking into consideration the rapid developments in Sengkang West.
Hi sir, this improvement in the lrt service is very welcome. I am a resident of sengkang west for past 2 years, and have noticed the recent congestion . I really appreciate and thank your continued efforts in making SW a better place to reside in.
Hi Dr Lam,
Many thanks for making improvement to our LRT system. What I can see now is that the LRT is less congested, everyone can get onto without feeling frustrated.
This certainly is gd news for all residents & strengthen our belief & faith in you that things can & will be worked out if feedback was given. Thanks for improving our lives in SK West.
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Pin Min’s Reply:
That’s indeed good news!
Dr Lam, can you also look into this SBS premium bus 550?
They have this no standing policy as the bus is running high speed at the expressway but with the population increased, when the bus reached the last bustop at Fernvale Lane, we all have to stand. Driver will thus asked if we want to alight. How to? If we do, we will be late for work. SBS should increase one more bus. Everyday, there are 7 to 10 passengers standing all the way from Sengkang to Shentonway at a premium fare of S$3.60. Wrote numerous feedback to SBS but seems like they not taking any actions. Pregnant mummies have to climb up the upper deck to find no seats available and come down again. Its ridiculous too when there are no considerate passengers who will give up their seats to these mummies. They rather close their eyes and pretend to sleep just because the journey is quite long.
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Pin Min’s Reply:
I will raise this up with LTA and the service provider too.
Yes please. Appreciated lots. Today 18/8/11 there are 15 standing passengers and timing was just as bad, very severe jam along YCK road. 0825hrs, this bus is still stuck along YCK road. Imagine the one hour journey standing and jam-braking on and off. Its better if SBS can increase services like example 548, 549 they both have more than 1 bus service.
Just to add that the bus driver drives like F1 driver…hard acceleration…hard breaking…
Yes…indeed LRT service has improved during peak hour. The nearest LRT to my block is Renjong and it used to be a few misses during the peak hour as the car is crowded. As for now, the frequency has increased even though sometime I do miss a trip due to overcrowded car.
Thanks Dr Lam for looking into the LRT Service. Though there is slight improvement during the peak hours last year.
Lately, even during non peak hours I can’t even get on with babies on stroller. It’s always overcrowded by the time it reach Renjong Station heading back to Sengkang station. Like wise, alighting on the way back is difficult since it’s overcrowded as well.
Kindly re-look in to the frequency of the services .
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Pin Min’s Reply:
I will defintely raise this up with the LRT operator. With the increased demand, we hope that SBST will make the LRT west loop into a full fledged bi-directional service.