SINGAPORE — What used to be a tiring and shelter-less 15-minute walk every morning has since become a convenient five-minute stroll for Ms Vijayalakshmi Amarthalingam and her 11-year-old son, after a new bus stop opened in Tengah’s Plantation Grange where they live.

Before this, the 37-year-old preschool teacher would have had to walk to Tengah estate’s only bus stop at Plantation Acres to take the bus to work or the nearest supermarket at Le Quest Mall.

The new bus stop is one of two that the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has added along Tengah Boulevard since Dec 24 last year.

While the extra bus stops may not appear to be remarkable improvements in a new housing estate that still lacks amenities such as a permanent supermarket or eateries, residents told TODAY that they make their journeys in and out of Tengah more convenient.

The Land Transport Authority extended bus service 992 to a new bus stop located in front of Block 132B of Plantation Grange and bus service 870 to a bus stop opposite the road from Block 129B of Plantation Village.

A new signalised pedestrian crossing along Tengah Boulevard began operating on Jan 26 to “provide safer and more seamless access” for Plantation Village residents to the new bus stops, HDB said.

Sales consultant Daniel Thinesh, who has been travelling to Tengah for work for the past six months or so, noted that buses arrived less frequently during his afternoon lunch breaks, but the waiting time for buses in the evening when he was headed home was usually under 10 minutes.

Mr Phillip, a 66-year-old retiree who has lived in his Plantation Grange flat since September last year and wanted to be known only by his first name, said that the new bus stops have made his daily commutes more convenient.

He used to have to "cut through the blocks" to get to the bus stop at Plantation Acres.

TWO MORE VENDING MACHINES 

Residents, however, seem less enamoured by the other amenities that HDB has set up in the neighbourhood, such as two vending machines selling snacks and beverages that began operating at Plantation Acres last month.

They join the three vending machines that have been operational at Block 111A in Plantation Acres since December, one of which offers hot food items such as nasi ayam, nasi rendang and cheese ball sausages.

Resident Muhammad Haikal Samsuri, 31, is not too impressed by the vending machine line-up.

“In terms of quantity and the stuff they sell, it’s not really essential,” the civil servant said.

He also said that the snacks and drinks on offer could be bought during his grocery runs at larger supermarkets and he would rather order food via delivery platforms such as Grab if he needed a ready-made meal.

That said, he and his wife are "okay" living in a neighbourhood with fewer amenities than most, since they moved there knowing what they were in for, he added.

“Our estate is one of the first few to be developed (in Tengah), but we didn’t want to wait for everything to be done before we moved in. We understood that buying groceries would take a bit more effort.” 

For 66-year-old retiree Siva Nathan, whose daughter lives in a five-room flat in Plantation Grange, he said that it would be helpful for vending machines to be located in other Tengah precincts as well, noting that the walk from her daughter's flat to Plantation Acres is a long one.

Ms Vijayalakshmi said that she does not use the vending machines for the same reason, adding that she would much prefer a "proper shop or eating place" nearby. 

SOME LINGERING ISSUES 

Residents across Tengah’s completed precincts also told TODAY on Thursday that they are hoping some lingering issues in the town would be resolved soon.

These include the weak phone signals in parts of the estate and private-hire drivers being unable to locate pick-up points — a result of online maps not being updated and road signs that the residents deemed “not conspicuous" enough. 

For instance, Mr Phillip said that he always has to provide comprehensive instructions to his assigned private-hire drivers before he leaves the house.

He also spoke about weak phone signals, saying that there have been several instances where his neighbours would walk across the corridor to his flat “to receive the one (signal) bar they need to make a phone call”. 

As of Jan 18, there were 2,908 households (77.5 per cent of 3,753 units) across the Plantation Acres, Plantation Grange and Plantation Village housing developments that have collected their keys and begun moving into the flats.

This is just slightly less than 10 per cent of the 30,000 or so public housing units expected to be launched in Tengah once the town is fully developed, HDB said.

There are another 20 Build-to-Order public housing projects under construction in Tengah. 

“As Tengah town is progressively built, residents can look forward to the same level of convenience as existing HDB towns,” it added.