Transportation in the Urban Jungle of Singapore

The Singapore urban scene has become the modern epitome of the urban jungle. With all 5.5 million of its population concentrated in a 720 sq.km. area, it is a sprawling madness of busy bodies moving around a labyrinth of interwoven thoroughfares and dizzying buildings. Although the city-state boasts one of the “gracious” societies in the world today, with its clean toilets, bike-friendly road infrastructure, and strict environmental laws, it is still one of the busiest places on earth.

The situation is compounded further by the country’s vigorous tourism scene which attracts 16.5 M tourists a year, a number thrice the country’s population. The country however has one of the best public transportation systems in the world that exhaustively covers almost all points of the city-state and has one of the better commuter services in the world.

Like most metros, there are several modes of public transportation in Singapore but the major commuter system in the area is its train system, also known as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), the second oldest metro rail system in Southeast Asia, which is considered by many as the fastest, most efficient way to travel Singapore since the system crosses the whole of the country end to end. When transecting any of the 11 major highways in Singapore or travelling inner city routes, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) provides commuters access to three major housing estates in the city. Train signages in both MRT and LRT, including maps, are in English and tickets are reasonably priced with some local travelling agencies even offering tour packages with free tourist train pass.  These tourist passes are special ez-link cards that can also be purchased in specific tourism centres and users can specify the number of days they plan to use the pass. There are also options to reload these cards during single trips.

Just like the MRT and LRT, buses in Singapore also have provisions for bus tourist pass and is still a more flexible alternative to the LRT when travelling more intricate inner-city routes. The more luxuriant bus lines in the country offer free on-board movies in-transit snacks or meals while some do not offer these and do not even have a bathroom or WiFi connection. The latter however are considerably cheaper than its competitors. As a standard however, most bus companies offer optional accident insurance which requires passengers to pay a modest cost in addition to the regular fare.

Although taxis in Singapore rarely offer similar public transport passes for tourist, remain the most convenient option when travelling short distances. These services abide by very strict local rules which benefits commuter considerably. For instance, taxis are supposed to issue receipts which list all the charges paid for by a passenger which allows them to check if the charges are correct or accurate. These receipts also serve as insurance in case passengers leave something in the taxi or are planning to file a complaint since the receipt have the name and number of the taxi operator. Non-issuance of these receipts is considered illegal in Singapore.