Commuters give thumbs up to new Shenton Way bus terminal

SINGAPORE — The new Shenton Way bus terminal opened on Sunday (June 25), a stone’s throw from its former location, which is making way for the upcoming Prince Edward MRT Station on the Circle Line.

Works for the MRT station, which caused a stir in the heritage and conservation community not long after it was announced in October 2015, are slated to commence at year end.

To build the station, not only did the old Shenton Way bus terminal have to move, it also became apparent last year that some heritage sites had to give way to construction.

A one-storey structure in the Bestway compound, which used to house Singapore Polytechnic, as well as Mount Palmer, where there were ruins of 19th-century tombs, had to make way for the new bus terminal.

And to construct Prince Edward MRT Station, Palmer House and the annex buildings of Bestway Building will be demolished.

But the authorities gave their assurance that the more important heritage sites in the area — the Fook Tet Soo Khek Temple, the Haji Muhammad Salleh Mosque and the Keramat Habib Noh — would not be affected and that works would skirt around those sites.

The main block of Bestway Building, the former Singapore Polytechnic building that opened in 1959, will also not be affected.

A year on, commuters in the area were greeted for the first time by the new bus terminal which, unlike the previous one, allows passengers to board the buses — 12 services in total — at the terminal itself.

When TODAY visited it in the afternoon, there were pockets of commuters milling around, having their meal at the cafeteria there or waiting for their buses.

Most of those whom TODAY spoke to gave the thumbs up to the terminal’s refreshed look. Some of them, like retired clerk Nancy Phoon, 68, liked the more spacious layout.

She said: “There are plenty of seats in the bus terminal. It’s good for elderly people like myself.”

She also noted that the terminal had more elderly-friendly facilities, like a priority queue for boarding.

Mr Sean Foo, 30, who was at the terminal with his family, liked the availability of charging ports, saying that it was “a convenient gesture, especially when we have to wait a while for our buses”.

Meanwhile, in a joint reply to TODAY, the Land Transport Authority, the National Heritage Board and the Urban Redevelopment Authority said they have engaged the heritage community to share the design considerations for Prince Edward MRT Station.

“We’ve gathered feedback from the heritage community and incorporated suggestions raised, such as relocating the entrance to east of the (Fook Tet Soo Khek) temple to provide a clear view of the temple from Shenton Way, and realigning Palmer Road with more open and green spaces,” the agencies said.

The NHB’s work with the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute on an archaeological survey of Mount Palmer — documenting the remnants of a former Parsi cemetery — has been completed, the agencies added in their update.

“The NHB is currently studying the findings of the survey, and these will add on to our database of resources on Singapore’s heritage,” said their statement.