The delays were communicated on announcement boards at stations but not on social media, and this raised the ire of some netizens. - ST/ANN
SINGAPORE: Some passengers on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) experienced a delay of up to 30 minutes on the morning of Nov 18.
Announcement boards at train stations informed passengers of the delay between Caldecott and Gardens by the Bay stations – a stretch of 11 stops – according to a Reddit post, which attracted 98 comments.
In a photo of one of the announcement boards, posted at 6.37am, train operator SMRT said that free regular bus services were available at affected stations. Public announcements were also made at the stations.
It is understood that the delay was resolved before the morning peak at 7.15am, although there were still no updates about the issue on SMRT’s social media pages, and this raised the ire of some netizens.
One user at 7.02am said: “No updates on the official channels... We’re just supposed to get to the MRT station, then realise there’s a breakdown.”
Another questioned what the threshold time is before SMRT makes public announcements on delays and disruptions.
“I’ve seen it enough to stop giving them the benefit of doubt... the announcements are managed, not for practicality but to manage the public’s perception,” said the user at 8.44am.
“So I wonder how many minutes of disruption before they decide to announce and of course, the time taken to resolve will affect the announcement too.” - The Straits Times/ANN
