SINGAPORE — There was confusion among some commuters on the first of two Sundays (Dec 10) of MRT station closures along the East-West and North-South Lines.

But the situation was largely well managed by an army of crowd marshals positioned in and near MRT stations, and a constant stream of shuttle bus services that arrived almost in succession.

When TODAY visited the Boon Lay MRT Station at about 8am, six marshals, who said they began their shift at 4.50am, were stationed at a bus stop nearby, from which the shuttle bus services departed. A small crowd of commuters were seen filing up the buses bound for Jurong East in orderly fashion.

However, at the entrance of the station, a crowd of passengers — which built up to about 15 at times — appeared confused that there were no train services, and were directed by staff members on hand to the bus services available.

A total of 17 MRT stops along the East-West Line between Tiong Bahru and Tuas Link, as well as Bukit Batok and Bukit Gombak stations on the North-South Line will shut completely this and next Sunday, to allow rail workers more time to do track maintenance and renewal works.

On a typical Sunday in December, about 580,000 trips are made along the affected stretches, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) had said earlier.

To ferry commuters between stations, shuttle bus services are plying four main routes, in loops: From Tuas Link to Joo Koon, Joo Koon to Jurong East, Jurong East to Outram Park, and Jurong East to Chua Chu Kang. On Sunday, a total of 350 shuttle buses, operated by more than 700 drivers, are on the roads.

The services, which follow the same fare structure as trains, run at intervals of three to five minutes during peak periods, and between five and 10 minutes during off-peak periods. 

Mechanical engineer Chen Bing Nan, 60, who was heading from Boon Lay to Bishan for a game of badminton with friends, found out about the closure of Boon Lay Station only when he arrived at about 8.35am.

He would typically ride the train to Jurong East, where he would transfer to the North-South Line towards Bishan. But the closure meant Mr Chen had to take a regular SMRT bus service to Chua Chu Kang Station, before boarding a train to his destination.

“I can understand why they are doing this, but why not have bigger advertisements, so everyone knows?” he asked. Most commuters affected by the closures were residents on their way to leisure activities, such as swimming lessons, and foreign workers heading for activities on their day off. Most of them had to settle for alternatives, such as hailing a taxi or getting on a bus.

At Clementi MRT Station, some commuters were similarly befuddled by the closures. They were handed leaflets by crowd marshals and told where to take the shuttle buses.

One commuter, Ms Michelle Goh, 37, was heading to a meeting at Paya Lebar in the east when she realised that there was no train service from Clementi, both ways. The manager told TODAY that she and her colleagues had read about the station closures in the news, but did not know east-bound services were affected, too.

“The shuttle bus is too late for me now. I will take a Grab or Uber, but it’s not too bad. At least the officers told me what was going on,” she said.

A foreign domestic worker, who wanted to be known as Ms Nuryati, was heading to City Hall with a group of about 10 friends. When TODAY approached her at the bus stop fronting the station, she was consulting with her friends about the possible routes they could take.

“It will make us late, but it is OK,” she said. “The buses are coming a lot.”

The closures saw some commuters making plans in advance of their travels, such as leaving home up to 30 minutes early.

Some were pleased with the regularity of the shuttle services available.

Said polytechnic student Isaac Wong, 18: “The flow of buses was quite regular. You just had to wait your turn to board – I didn’t take more than 5 minutes.”

TODAY’s journey on a shuttle bus service from Boon Lay to Jurong East, which was three stops away, took 17 minutes, slightly longer than a train ride.

Rail operator SMRT and the Land Transport Authority announced the drastic changes to operation hours after two trains collided at Joo Koon MRT Station last month, injuring nearly 40.

One train had its protective features, designed to keep it at a safe distance from other trains, knocked out twice that day, causing a train behind to lurch forward and hit it.

The downtime along the affected stretches will speed up work to get a new signalling system completed on the East-West Line by June, instead of the end of next year.

For the rest of this month, the affected stations will also close earlier at 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, instead of the usual 12.30am. They will open later on Saturdays and Sundays, at 8am.