Buangkok MRT Station (NE15)
is an underground station located
on the North East Line of the
Mass Rapid Transit in
Singapore
. The station is in Sengkang
and near to
Hougang
and serves residents in the vicinity.
The art in Transit artwork is
Water, Nature and the
Contemporary by Vincent Leow.
History
Buangkok station was originally planned to be opened with the other
of the 16 stations on the North East Line in
2003. A few days before the opening,
SBS Transit decided not to open the station as
the area around the station is relatively undeveloped and the
company claimed that the number of passengers would be too low to
cover operating costs.
On 12 November 2005, then Transport Minister
Yeo Cheow Tong announced that the station
would open in mid January 2006 to much approval from the public,
and on
29 December,
SBS Transit revealed the opening date to be 15
January 2006. The station was well maintained like any other
station throughout the time before it was opened. To get ready for
the station's opening, the programming had to be updated to include
Buangkok. Residents had said they would be willing to walk 400
metres to the station every day.
The station opened with much fanfare on 15 January 2006. SBS
Transit had expected around 3,500 commuters using the station
daily, which would be the lowest among all the NEL stations and
result in the station making a loss.
Even so, ridership on this station was much lower than expected on
its opening week. It had an average of only 1,386 passenger trips
per day, which was much worse than other NEL stations with low
ridership.
For example, Clarke Quay MRT
Station
, the next lowest station in terms of ridership, had
already more than 6,000 commuter trips per day. However,
Clarke Quay was located in the Central Business District with
considerable development in the area.
SBS Transit has since said it is still too early to draw a
conclusion on Buangkok Station's ridership and viability. However,
with construction of flats behind the station expected to be
completed by end 2007, ridership should increase
substantially.
First White Elephant Incident
The interior of
Buangkok MRT
Station (NE15)
Entrance to Buangkok MRT Station
On 27 August 2005, during Minister
Vivian Balakrishnan's visit to Punggol
South, a resident, displeased with Buangkok's disuse, erected a
series of white paper cut-outs of elephants, which were drawn in a
cartoon-like style, symbolically calling the unopened Buangkok
station a '
white elephant'. Soon
after, police started an
investigation on it as a case of a public
display without permit, on the grounds that a
complaint was received and that they may
have been in violation of the Public Entertainment and Meetings
Act, for which the maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $10,000.
It raised
controversy because many
people saw it as a harmless, trivial case not worthy of
investigation. It also highlighted the general displeasure over the
non-operation of the MRT station after it was built with public
funds. It also raised questions on how much
freedom of expression the government
is willing to tolerate. A month later, police closed the
investigation without pressing charges but issued a stern warning
to the offender. This led Deputy Prime Minister
Wong Kan Seng to explain to the media, "We
cannot apply the law to some and turn a blind eye to others. If we
do, then the law becomes the real white elephant."
Second White Elephant Incident
On 13 January 2006, during a carnival celebrating the opening of
the MRT Station, some 27 students from
Raffles Girls' School were
preparing to sell T-shirts bearing "Save the White Elephants" to
raise funds for a charity
Youth
Guidance. This prompted a warning from the police that they
needed a fund-raising permit and that "wearing of T-shirts en masse
may be misconstrued by some as an offence under the Miscellaneous
Offences (Public & Order & Nuisance) (Assemblies &
Processions) Rules."
The girls said that they had always taken a strong interest in
current affairs and Buangkok incident inspired them to start what
they called "Project White Elephant" aiming to "galvanise the youth
of today to rise up from the apathy they are stereotyped with and
take an active role in airing their views". Punggol South
grassroots leaders were impressed by their "entrepreneurial spirit
and derring-do", and invited them to set up a stall at the opening
ceremony of the station to sell the T-shirts.
On 21 January 2006, Deputy Prime Minister
Wong Kan Seng apologised for the way the
police had overreacted to the group of school girls' plan to sell
and wear white elephant T-shirts at the opening of Buangkok
Station.
Train Service
| Destination |
First Train |
|
Last Train |
|
Mon - Sat |
|
Sunday &
Public Holiday |
|
Daily |
| North East
Line |
| to NE1 HarbourFront |
5.47am |
|
6.07am |
|
11.32pm |
| to NE17 Punggol |
6.27am |
|
6.47am |
|
12.22am |
Current Station Layout
Bus services nearby
The following bus services pass by the bus stops along Sengkang
Central:
The following busses pass along Sengkang East Avenue:
References
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