The MOST Influential Metro System in the World? | Singapore MRT

This video a remake of a previous video incorporating your feedback, improving pronunciations, making corrections, and fully revamping the visuals and script. Please enjoy and consider sharing!

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

#singapore #transit #mrt

[RMTransit]

You can thank Yuuka_miya for helping me to pronounce things!

This video a remake of a previous video incorporating your feedback, improving pronunciations, making corrections, and fully revamping the visuals and script. Please enjoy and consider sharing!

[ravenizer]

At around 8:50, the reason why Promenade doesn't have a cross platform interchange is due to track re-alignment that happened after the collapse of Nicoll Highway station during construction. This caused a massive redirect of the Downtown Line to avoid soft soil in that area, making the tracks impossible to meet for a cross platform interchange. You can still see evidence of the initial platform design in the architecture.

With regards to Dhoby Ghaut, honestly I think it was a cost thing. There are many massive malls with underground floors and parking already surrounding that area and it would have been a massive undertaking connecting it to an already ridiculously overbuilt station and underground pedestrian system. You can also see that thinking happen with the Thomson–East Coast Line choosing to interchange at Outram Park instead of Dhoby Ghaut.

[mountainous_port]

Went to Singapore. The subway didnt feel crowded but didnt feel sparse as well. I think its because the ridership is evenly distributed perhaps.

[yjjcoolcool]

Excellent video! I have to say you absolutely nailed the pronunciation of almost all of the station names - probably not a very major detail to many - but I think it just shows how well-researched this video was.

[Knnth]

Didn't expect a remake of the Singapore MRT system so fast but appreciate the effort to include more facts/details and more accurate pronunciation. The Cross-Island Line is prob SG's equivalent of London's Elizabeth Line... Connecting the east and west of SG. It'll have initial 6-car operations (with possibility expansion to 8 in the future) so it's a high-capacity line. Hopefully that'll alleviate the crowded 3-car Circle Line. The bus system are also pretty well connected with the mrt system thru many integrated transport hubs that house bus interchanges/terminals with mrt stations, malls and residential developments. Great vid as always Reece :)

[dontown]

I was in Singapore in 1988 & was amazed to see the safety doors on the platform. They only had the original line back then. Cheers from Vancouver.

[lvrncfm]

I visited Singapore with my family in like 1989 as a four year old. Have my first memories ever there, that's how big of an impression the city gave me. From then on I was doomed to be a city, architecture, skyscraper and food nerd. Nasi goreng became a staple in our Swedish household lol, my father wanted it at least once per week.

[Soundaholic]

I noticed your pronunciations of local neighbourhood names were pretty solid. Didn't realise you redid the whole video until I finished watching it. I love the MRT so I appreciate the effort (Y)

[bryanCJC]

Having a master plan. A master plan is the key to making good decisions when building out a system w provisions that you don't have to go back and create. I've seen systems that built provisions and small sections of metro that at first didn't make a lot of sense until 15 years later when it became an important line or connection and saved a lot of time and money.

This is so important It brings to mind my absolute frustration with my hometown of Los Angeles who has no master plan. They're building a light rail line now (Crenshaw) with no idea where it will end up. LA's planning, after the MTA (which is also responsible for freeways and roads) was created in the 80s, is reactionary rather than proactive which guarantees a mediocre skeletal system.

[Orion-ihxl]

As a Singaporean and first time viewer, I read the channel name as ringgit Malaysia transit. Also, its interesting how others view MRTs, I never gave it a second thought

[garef]

I live in Singapore. I agree, the MRT is great, especially the prescence of screen doors at every station and the route map on the trains.

[yrdidhb]

Just want to give respect to this dude’s pronunciation of various stations in Singapore. Pretty accurate so I know he paid attention to detail!

[Flylice]

just returned from Singapore a few weeks ago. Currently live in NY. I'm amazed how much better their system is. If you miss a train, another one comes in less than 5min. Also NY seems to stack an insane amount of parallel lines in Manhattan while neglecting Brooklyn. I have no clue why intelligent urban planning is so difficult in the US.

[laujunming]

This is much better than the original, especially in how you didn’t get carried away non essential information like rolling stock features unless they were necessary to explain the MRT’s innovations (eg, the TEL’s 5 door trains)

[stevenelson]

The whole Singapore transportation network works very well. While we’ve been on the MRT network a lot, our preferred method of travel is by bus. My wife is originally from Singapore, so we visit often. By taking the bus, she sees some of the areas she used to haunt and it gives me a much better idea of the country. It also gives you a great understanding of just how compact the core area of Singapore is. Wonderful country to visit and the people, generally, are friendly and welcoming.

[leioura]

as singaporean, i love the MRT system, its efficient, affordable and convenient. i love that i can get anywhere just taking the MRT and then walk to my destination. and as someone with terrible sense of direction, i never get lost, all the signs are clear and understandable.

[StuffWePlay]

I remember being in Singapore as a kid and, after spending most of my childhood in the States, being AMAZED by the Singapore metro! Honestly, being from Texas originally, it was my first time ever riding some form of metro

[MaySim]

Seconding the comments from the Singaporeans here on your pronunciation of station names - kudos to the work you've done for this video!
Place names in Singapore reflect our multi-cultural population, which means the words aren't always pronounced consistently or intuitively, especially to a foreigner.

[FalsAgent]

The cross region line will be a game-changer. Where the existing lines provide consistency and convenience, the CRL will provide speed, effectively "shrinking" the island and cutting travel times for those living outside the central area in half, putting it on par with driving. It will make driving in Singapore even more useless than it is

[coshatiuav]

Amazing content as usual, and nice refresh! Just copying my original comment:

- Singapore has a knack for planning ahead. Besides Gul Circle, Chinatown and MacPherson have the newer line's platforms already in place when first constructed, making for a very convenient transfer that's the next best thing after cross platforms.
- On the contrary, there were some extensions that were completely unplanned and can be seen as such. The Downtown line was conceptualized from a merger of three separate lines, hence it completely misses proper connections to many other lines in the central area (Dhoby Ghaut, Raffles Place). Promenade is an oddball station, as it has four side platforms stacked on top of one another (because what was supposed to be a cross platform became a situation of one line passing under another). Jurong East was expanded a number of times, from a three-track station to four tracks (2009) and in the future six for the JRL (2027), and the platform layouts aren't the best if you ask me.
- Speaking of the JRL, a connection to NTU, one of the country's major universities, has been proposed since 2000 and even I would miss the opportunity to ride it had I gone there. But seing how other universites around the world are waiting for their own rail connections, we're a lot more fortunate in comparison.
- There were actually proposals to build MRT extensions out of the mainland and into islands like Jurong Island and Pulau Ubin. Thankfully, the land uses for these islands have since been revised and all civil development has been consolidated in the mainland.
- Despite Singapore's focus on public transport, car needs ocassionally get in the way of its public transport plans. The lack of a connection between the two Downtown Line stretches you mentioned was due to a future underground expressway constructed at that location, and Newton station (serving the North South and Downtown Lines) was forced to use an out-of-system interchange due to a now-discontinued underground highway planned in the area.
- New extensions nowadays are built with future developments in mind. The Thomson-East Coast Line is full of these, and so is every future extension. The most well-known of these are the Punggol Digital District and Jurong Lake District, which is crazy given that buisness and commercial areas are effectively planned far from the CBD (as a process of decentralization).
- Singapore is set to host the first train-testing centre in Southeast Asia. On that note, with the exception of the North South and East West Lines, incompatibility of rolling stock is one of our system's weaknesses.
- Lastly, the Circle Line as you mentioned was built to three-car specifications, but ridership has since surpassed expectations of the early 2000s and it would have been nice had the trains been four or five cars long.

Fun fact: The signage on the platform screen doors at 4:35 is only a few days old at the time of writing.