Not everyone is a fan of the MRT system in Singapore, but it was a recommended form of transit in my Lonely Planet Guide. I found it to be a good bargain and a very inexpensive way to get around a lot of Singpore with a reasonable amount of walking.

My first use, as described in my report Darting through Singapore, was from the Changri Airport to the Aljunied Station to get to my hotel in Geylang. Rather than paying the $35 SGD ($22 US) I was quoted by a taxi, I got to my hotel via a MRT-street taxi combo that set me back only about $5 SGD ($3 US), an excellent bargain for that initial arrival and in a reasonable amount of time.

I often used the MRT to get from Geylang to Orchard and back, and also used it for my visits to Chinatown, Little India, Arab Street, and a few other sightseeing excursions. I could have used the MRT to the ferry terminal and a visit to the Zoo as well, but ended up splitting a taxi with MongerX to the ferry and never made the Zoo trip. All of these fares ran me less than $3 SGD and most under $2 SGD after having my deposit returned.

The process is simple, walk to the ticket machine and press the button for your destination. Everything is in English, so no worries there. After entering your fare, you'll receive a green pass to scan at the gates when entering and exiting the train area. After completing your trip, or any subsequent visit to the ticket machine afterwards, you submit your used pass for the return of a $1 SGD deposit that was included in your original fare.

Maps are scattered around the station and in the trains themselves and are easy to follow. Interchange points are clearly marked and signal where you may need to cross a platform, or climb/descend stairs to another platform, to continue on a different line.

At the start and end of the work day the trains can get very packed, but you can still usually squeeze in without having to wait for the next train...at least according to my expeience. Still, people that don't like small spaces should probably spring the few extra bucks for a taxi during those time period.

The main drawback is that the MRT often won't take you to exactly where you want to go. If you are on a tighter schedule, have luggage, or have a date with you, you probably should be taking a taxi.

If you don't mind a little exercise and have a more leisurely schedule, you should check out the MRT at least once.

Note that there is no eating and drinking in the stations nor trains themselves, and they don't have trashcans around, so get rid of your trash before entering the station. Eating/drinking carries with it a $500 SGD fine ($309 US), and they have video cameras everywhere.

The trains run from early morning until about 11pm at night. Full schedules, a map and additional information can be found at: http://www.smrt.com.sg/smrt/index.htm

Here's a freeware map by N.S. Azmin. It's part of a set of maps designed for use on PDAs. The full set of maps, along with a set for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/nash_1126/. The download was slow, so I'll also include it here:



For most people the PDA maps are probably unneccessary, since they offer small printout maps and posted maps all over the station and trains. However, frequent visitors, efficienty planners, and technofreaks that want to stay on the cutting edge may want to load these up on their PDA.

Oh, this reminds me of a detail I left out when coming from Changri Airport. As you can see the Changri line terminates at Tanah Merah which is an interchange. You'll need to walk across the platform and get on the other train towards Boon Lay.

I guess I should also mention that you'll always want to take note of the final stop points of the line you are on to make sure you get on the right train. For example, the dark green East-West line runs from Pasir Ris (EW1) on the East End to Boon Lay (EW27) on the West End. If you want to travel from Kallang (EW10) to City Hall (EW13), you'll want to look for and board on the train headed towards Boon Lay. The platform picture above the previous post shows what the sign looks like. You can see the guy in the orange shirt is waiting for a train on Platform B heading towards Boon Lay.

ni hao. the above smrt web page cannot be found but the main page still exists www.smrt.com.sg

from bugis (ew12) i rode mrt to changi airport then the skytrain (free xfer) to the airport terminal. there are 3 terminals & a budget terminal. airasia is in t1. (included in my tkt departure tax s28 for t1-3, or s15 budget)

new landmark hotel skyscraper www.marinabaysands.com has a skypark above triple 57-story towers w/ 150m infinity swimming pool.

other sights: clark quay, riverwalk at nite, little india, colonial district
www.yoursingapore.com

to extend 90-day stay (for americans) take local Johor Bahru-bound bus from queen st bus stn, or ride mrt to kranji (ns7) stn then catch bus to JB. immigration is in woodlands. singapore checkpoint is south & malaysia north of 1km causeway across strait of johor. take escalator up to immigr, fill out immigr card before standing in line. after clearing immigr you dont need to continue to JB, instead catch singapore-bound bus to return.

buses www.sbstransit.com.sg

zai jian