Ridership on Downtown Line tripled since last October

SINGAPORE — Average daily weekday ridership of the Downtown Line (DTL) tripled to more than 250,000 in mid-July from 83,000 last October. The average number of weekday journeys on public transport along the DTL corridor also increased by about 60 per cent since the opening of Downtown Line 2 (DTL2) last December.

Releasing these figures on Wednesday (July 27), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the opening of DTL2 “has changed the travel patterns of residents along the north-western corridor”. “It is likely that more commuters have shifted from driving to taking the DTL,” said the LTA.

The LTA noted that the opening of DTL2 has shortened journey times, Since DTL2 opened, close to 65 per cent of commuters travelling via DTL saw time savings of up to 10 minutes, while another 15 per cent had time savings of more than 10 minutes, said the LTA.

“As more commuters are attracted to the DTL, commuters on other rail lines also enjoy more comfortable rides,” said the LTA. For instance, there has been a 10 per cent drop in the number of commuters travelling on the North-South Line along Bukit Batok–Jurong East and on the East-West Line along Jurong East–Clementi during morning peak hours.

Meanwhile, with more commuters switching from buses to trains, there has also been lower ridership on buses plying the routes along DTL2.

Peak hour speeds of bus services that use the DTL corridor have improved by up to 6 per cent, which could be due to fewer passengers boarding and alighting, said the authority.

However, there has been increased use of feeder bus services that bring commuters to DTL stations, such as Services 920 and 922 in Bukit Panjang. The LTA has introduced new or extended bus services, such as Services 979 and 983, to meet this increased demand.

To encourage more commuters to use the DTL, there will be 29km of sheltered walkways for stations on DTL3 and the upcoming Downtown Line Stage 3 (DTL3). These sheltered walkways are part of a S$1 billion plan to improve first-and-last-mile connectivity for commuters, Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo had said at the Committee of Supply Debate in April.