Ridership on Downtown Line increased by more than 50 percent

Ridership on the Downtown Line has increased by more than 50 percent since the opening of Downtown Line 3 (DTL3) a little over three months ago, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) revealed on Saturday (10 February). Daily weekday ridership on the Downtown Line increased from 300,000km to 470,000km following the opening of the 16-station extension in October last year, said the authority.

The LTA added that the 42km-long line is expected to see more than half a million riders daily by the end of the year. This is about 16 percent of the 3.1 million rides taken on the MRT network here daily.

During its official opening in October, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan described Downtown Line 3 as a 'game-changer' for those living in the East, noting it significantly cut down travel times for residents. For example, a journey from Tampines East to Telok Ayer now takes 34 minutes, compared to about 52 minutes previously.

Downtown Line 3, stretching from Fort Canning to Expo, has also doubled the number of households in Bedok and Tampines within walking distance of an MRT station. In Bedok, the number of households within a 10-minute walk from a station has increased from 32 percent to 63 percent, with the opening of the line.

In Tampines, where there are now five MRT stations - Tampines, Tampines East and Tampines West on the Downtown Line, and Tampines and Simei on the East-West line - the percentage has increased from 39 percent to 79 percent.

"With DTL3 being added to our rail network, 64 percent of households across Singapore are now within a 10-minute walk from a station," said the LTA. This means that we are one step closer to achieving our goal of having eight in 10 households within a 10-minute walk from a train station by 2030."