SINGAPORE — Come the end of the month, Madam Zurah Rahim will no longer have to sit through an extra two stops on the Punggol West Loop LRT service when sending her two children to pre-school in the mornings.

The 35-year-old housewife makes daily trips from Punggol station to Nibong station along the loop where the childcare centre is located, and the train travels only in one direction from Punggol (towards Sam Kee) from around 6am till 3pm, before switching directions after 3pm.

This means she has to travel five stops to get to Nibong station. If there were services in the other direction in the morning, she would reach her destination in three.

“I think I can save about 10 minutes,” she said. “The distance is near enough to walk, but I can’t because I am with my two young children.”

Mdm Zurah is among many Punggol residents who are looking forward to the start of bi-directional services on the Punggol West Loop on Sept 29. 

Making the announcement on Friday (Sept 7), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and SBS Transit said that the bi-directional services are expected to reduce travel time and crowding.

It will also reduce the confusion for some commuters.

Retiree Jasmine Chang, 53, who uses the LRT service at least once a week when visiting her daughter, said: “Sometimes I travel one station, but other times, I have to go one whole loop... it’s very confusing.”

Ms Chang, who visits her daughter at her home near the Soo Teck station, is glad that when the new service starts, she will just have to alight after one stop.

Train intervals on the LRT service are about four to five minutes during peak hours, and six to seven minutes during off-peak hours.

The LTA added that on Sundays, when certain stretches along one direction of the loop opens later due to maintenance and asset renewal works, services will still be available in the opposite direction.

Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Transport who made a site visit to the Punggol LRT station on Friday, said the need for the bi-directional service was due to the growing ridership. “The population of Punggol is growing quite significantly. It has been for a while and it will continue to do so for a number of years.”

Ridership on the Sengkang and Punggol LRT lines went up by more than 6 per cent in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year.

The average daily ridership of the two lines is about 128,300 passengers, SBS Transit said.

To increase capacity on the two lines, SBS Transit will run more two-car trains at selected timings and increase the frequency of the trains.