MRT breakdown: Private-hire car fare surges above S$20 just to get home

MRT's a crowd.

Julia Yeo| Guan Zhen Tan| October 14, 2020, 11:27 PM

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A power fault on the North-South, East-West and Circle Lines at the same time on Oct. 14 evening peak hour wreaked havoc for thousands of commuters on their way home.

Train services on these three MRT lines were disrupted between Jurong East and Marsiling, Serangoon and HarbourFront, as well as Clementi and Tuas Link.

Train services along North-South and East-West lines were first disrupted at around 7pm.

Large crowds, overwhelmed shuttle buses

SMRT said train services were restored progressively from 8:45pm, but long queues and crowds formed at the bus stops right outside of affected MRT stations, including Clementi, Buona Vista and Queenstown MRT stations.

Image via Mothership reader

Photo via Ashley Tan

Police officers stepped in

According to at least one Instagram story by @TechnicallyBrian, the first free shuttle bus at Queenstown MRT was overwhelmed with an agitated crowd, who allegedly rocked the bus.

He told Mothership that the crowd was angry and that there was only one shuttle bus that came after more than half an hour.

Image via TechnicallyBrian's IG story

Police officers allegedly had to yell at commuters to manage the situation.

He also noticed that several commuters hurled complaints about the lack of social distance and wanting to go home.

Grab surge

Stranded commuters who attempted to book a private hire car out of the area were met with a surge in ride prices.

Walk on train tracks

Footage of commuters walking on train tracks have been circulating online.

A Facebook user shared a video of commuters walking on the train tracks along the North-South Line.According to one Mothership reader, she had to walk in the rain for seven minutes to get to Bukit Batok station after her train stalled in the middle of the tracks around 8:45pm.

Services resumed

According to the latest update by SMRT on Twitter, train services have resumed.

Mothership understands that trains are up as running as usual at Woodlands, headed towards Jurong East.

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Top image via Ashley Tan and TechnicallyBrian