By Valerie Ng (25S06N)
6 lines, 140 stations, 200 kilometres. The Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) system in Singapore is, undoubtedly, the most economic way to get around. It offers speed and efficiency – hence “rapid” – with a minimal amount of effort, and boasts great interconnectivity all throughout the country (if you think about it, every MRT line has at least 1 interchange for every other line).
According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the system has over 3 million daily riders – hence “mass” – serving as nothing less than a confirmation that the MRT proves integral to our lives in Singapore.
After letting the MRT take me everywhere these past 17 years, I have come up with a ranking of the MRT lines. I hesitate to say that the list is up for contention, but I suppose this is, somewhat, a matter of “to each, their own”.
To set the context that proves essential to justifying some of my rankings, it is important to note that I am a Red Line RiderTM. My life revolves around the red line, and only ventures out whenever school life permits the time for it to do so. Nonetheless, in the time given to me, I have travelled around the country using the MRT quite a fair bit, so any bias will be kept to a minimum.
Without further ado, I present to you: a definitive ranking of the MRT lines in Singapore.
#6: East-West Line (The Green Line)
The green line is slow. Maybe ever so slightly faster than the red line, but still slow. The green line will have you looking up from your phone, after scrolling through about 50 TikToks, only to find that you have only travelled 2 stops in the 20 years that have just passed. Your hair turns white on the green line.
And that’s not all: not only does it promise you a way-too-long commute that will render you wondering if the passage of time is actually real, you will also sweat buckets while doing so. For some odd reason that I have yet to ascertain, the green line does not offer the comfort that a typical train ride on the other lines promises.
Maybe it’s because the trains they use on the green line are older, maybe it’s because of all the people who commute using the green line, or maybe it’s because of all the industrial activity going on in the West.
Whatever the reason, global warming is worse on the green line.
That’s not to say the green line is all bad. Speaking of industrial activity, the green line does take you to the industrial areas of Singapore, which the other lines do not. This does provide a good amount of convenience for those travelling to and from these industrial areas – well, at least the train gets there, no matter how slow – and we cannot discount that.
All things considered, though, the green line is simply too slow and too stuffy for it to rank any higher on the list. I will admit: the last 3 stations (Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road, Tuas Link) in the industrial area – the only stations located in otherwise foreign territory, and hence the only stations one can take to get there – do provide some merit, but today, the green line falls short.
#5: North-East Line (The Purple Line)
To me, the purple line feels like nothing more than a decorative line. Sounds harsh, but as a Red Line RiderTM, the 17 stations (did I mention there are only 17 stations on the purple line?) hold little to no relevance to my life. I will say that the first 6 stops might concern me a little, but the purple line is just too foreign for there to be an actual need for me to even consider taking it.
Also, during the few times I have had to take the purple line, the people, and the train itself, seemed to be a bit hostile. It’s difficult to explain it, but something just feels like they are telling me to go back to the red line, where I belong. It is admittedly odd.
With that said, the purple line does fulfil the requirements of a good train: good speed, well-maintained and air-conditioned trains, decent connectivity. I recognise that it would probably rank higher up if the stations themselves held more relevance to my life – if I were a Purple Line PatronTM, if you will.
#4: North-South Line (The Red Line)
It physically pains me to place my beloved red line at fourth place. In the earlier stages of writing this article, I was confident that the red line would place somewhere amongst the top 3, top 2 even. But then I sat with it for a while, and realised, to my absolute horror, that the red line offers nothing much except a fair bit of relevance and a bit more familiarity.
The red line is not terribly well-connected, with most of the interchanges concentrated around the second half of the line. It is also not very fast, and in fact, it is quite slow (still faster than the green line though). The train models they use are also from the older generations, so there’s no knowing when you’ll step into a train carriage yellowed from the vicissitudes of life and time itself (would also like to add: these yellowed train carriages still manage to be well-air conditioned. Get your act together, green line).
However, I think the red line deserves some credit: having been the first MRT line to be completed in 1987, it is the Original, and has truly served us well for decades.
The red line, though deserving that bit of credit, offers little merit. So why did I think the red line would rank so high up the list? Well, here is where the background comes in. As previously mentioned, I have been a Red Line RiderTM for as long as I have lived.
The red line, to me, means going home. It means that everything is predictable again and I don’t have to check the map in front of me every 20 seconds to make sure that I’m going in the right direction. It means that, at least, there will always be one constant – the ride home on the red line.
Alas, sometimes the red line breaks down, as did my initial surety that the red line would rank among the top 3. Apart from the sentimental value the red line holds to me, I struggle to find many good things to say about it, which leads me to locking it in as the #4 MRT line in Singapore.
#3: Circle Line (The Yellow/Orange Line)
Honestly, I have minimal opinions on the yellow (some argue that it is orange) line. To me, the yellow line is very “mid”, as the young people say. There is nothing especially appealing about it, yet also nothing that makes me detest it. However, there are admittedly more pros than cons to this line.
The trains are not very fast, yet not diabolically slow; but for some reason, whenever I am on the yellow line, I always seem to be there for ages. The yellow line does offer good interconnectivity, in the sense that it is connected to each of the lines at both ends of itself, and the other (see: Paya Lebar and Buona Vista, Botanic Gardens and Macpherson, Bishan and Dhoby Ghaut).
It is also home to many interesting MRT stations: the 2 deepest MRT stations in Singapore, Bencoolen and Promenade – the both of them come in at 43 metres deep –; the MRT station that contains the longest escalator in Singapore, Bras Basah; and the MRT station that promises an entertaining walk along its underpass, scattered with thought-provoking and (visually appealing) artworks.
The yellow line does prove itself as a competent and intriguing one, though I have little sentimental value attached to it. Hence,I am placing it at #3 on the list.
#2: Downtown Line (The Blue Line)
Confession time for all of you Blue Line LoversTM out there: in the early stages of writing this article, I was going to put the blue line at #4. Why? Well, refer to the map above. Do you see that massive loop in the middle of the line? I take severe umbrage.
Why would you construct this otherwise perfect line in such a way that forces you to take 9 stops, just to end up in a place where your displacement ends up being approximately equal to zero? These 9 stops leave me having to find alternative routes if I want to get somewhere outside of this loop, which means I am not inclined to take the blue line at all.
Deep breaths.
The blue line is undeniably fast, (although I am unsure if it offsets the extra time it takes to ride 9 stops) and the train models they use are very new, which means that it promises good ventilation and fresh air every time you take the blue line.
It is also very well-connected, with interchanges scattered at appropriate and regular intervals of the line (see: the 4 interchanges in a row from Botanic Gardens to Little India, and then the 3 interchanges in a row from Bugis to Bayfront, and then the map as a whole).
Thinking about it with a clear and level headspace, the blue line does have it all: speed, interconnectivity, good train conditions, the list goes on. But it also has a massive loop in the middle of it, and that, I cannot let go.
#1: Thomson East-Coast Line (The Brown Line)
Finally, #1 on the list, and also our newest addition to the MRT System Map: the Thomson-East Coast Line. Once again, I do not have much experience with the brown line, but whenever I think about the map and the locations on it, I always think that taking the brown line must be such an experience. What do you mean we can now get from Thomson to Orchard in a matter of minutes?
But enough about the speed and interconnectivity of the brown line, the map speaks for itself. The trains themselves: being the most recently constructed line, the train models used on the brown line are the most advanced ones yet.
New features such as the Dynamic Route Map that provides commuters with useful and relevant information during the ride (and hence no more need to check the map every 20 seconds to make sure you are on track – haha, get it?) – Tip-up Seats that can be lifted up during peak periods to make more space for standing commuters to accommodate larger volumes of people.
Speaking of accommodation, the addition of two wheelchair bays located in the middle of each train, and the Passenger Communication Unit being positioned lower ensures that wheelchair-bound commuters have better access to the MRT.
And the stations: the exits of the stations on the brown line are labelled with numbers instead of letters, unlike the other MRT lines. The rationale behind this was to ensure that tourists from foreign countries who may not have a functioning grasp of the English language and its letters are, too, able to navigate around the stations and the country.
Clearly, the brown line was constructed with a massive amount of thought for the accessibility and the diverse needs of every potential MRT-taker, and serves as nothing less than a testament to what Singapore strives to achieve – a welcoming space for everyone, no matter who they are and where they come from.
There we have it, everyone. A definitive ranking of the MRT lines in Singapore. Once again, I hesitate to say that the list is up for contention, but I suppose that this is quite a subjective matter. All I can say is that I hope I have not angered anyone (though unlikely; I know a fair number of Green Line GirlsTM), and that I come in peace.
Credits
https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/getting_around/public_transport/rail_network.html