SINGAPORE — Private bus associations and foreign workers gave a thumbs-up to changes made to bus services in Little India yesterday, despite operations continuing beyond the stipulated 9pm cut-off.

Yesterday marked the resumption of bus services ferrying workers back to their dormitories — albeit with half the usual number of buses allowed to operate — after an enforced hiatus last Sunday following the riot on Race Course Road on Dec 8. The stakeholders welcomed the more orderly system for waiting and boarding, with workers queuing at pick-up points along Tekka Lane and Hampshire Road.

Officials from the Singapore School Transport Association and Singapore School and Private Hire Bus Owners’ Association (SSPHBOA) were busy directing traffic, as well as helping workers to their designated pick-up points. They also reminded workers to return by 9pm for the last bus.

“You see the queue, so nice, very good,” said SSPHBOA President Neo Tiam Beng, who was on Hampshire Road to observe operations last night.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew and Second Home Affairs Minister S Iswaran also visited Little India yesterday evening. Commenting on the new transport arrangements, Mr Iswaran said: “The flow was smooth and the workers were queueing and boarding the buses in an orderly manner.”

“Police, the LTA and other government agencies will use this experience to evaluate any other measures and facilities that might be needed going forward,” he wrote in a Facebook post. Earlier in the afternoon, Mr Iswaran also visited Penjuru recreation park and the Soon Lee Recreation Centre, popular weekend gathering points among foreign workers.

SSPHBOA transport head Michael Tan said barricading one lane of Hampshire Road to accommodate the queues of workers made the process “safer, more efficient, faster”. Previously, the workers would rush to board the buses.

The authorities have also allowed a car park on Halifax Road to be a holding area for the private buses from 3pm to 9pm on Sundays.

Some drivers lamented that the number of foreign workers taking the buses was low and said it would take time for volume to increase. Other drivers said they hoped services would be allowed to operate until 10pm so they could ferry more workers and those who work late could still make a trip to relax in Little India.

Workers were allowed to join the queue for buses after 9pm yesterday and the last bus departed at 9.40pm.

Several workers told TODAY they approved of the new queue system and did not mind a wait of about 20 to 30 minutes for their buses — which eased the journey to dormitories in far-flung locations like Senoko, Lim Chu Kang, Penjuru and Tuas.

Bangladeshi construction worker Mohd Asgor, 36, who arrived at Little India at 7pm, said the wait was quite long, but it was better than taking two public buses to his Yishun dormitory.

Some workers said that in addition to providing services like cash remittance and cheap haircuts, Little India is an important meeting point for those who have relatives working here but at opposite ends of the island from them.

Meanwhile, retail and convenience stores continued to bemoan the alcohol restrictions — sales are banned from 8pm on weekends, public holidays and the eve of public holidays — as sales took a hit. Two convenience stores said they did not sell any alcohol yesterday, but brisk beer sales were observed at the Kerbau Road beer garden, where sales assistants cracked beer cans open before handing them to customers to ensure consumption within the area.

Officers from the Central Police Division were also present to check for compliance with alcohol restrictions. Compliance management officers checked for licensing compliance by retail shops while divisional tactical team officers ensured that there was no public consumption of alcohol.

By 11pm, activity in Little India had wound down, with many businesses shuttered and few people in sight, especially along Race Course Road.