SMRT taxis were seen offering free rides to students taking the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) from the MRT stations affected by the ongoing disruption.
When several Lianhe Zaobao reporters visited the affected MRT stations at around 7am, not many students were seen on the second day of the East-West Line disruption.
Most students were believed to have left early or changed their route to accommodate the extended travel time to get to the examination venues.
Free taxis at Jurong East MRT
Station broadcasts at the Jurong East MRT station directed students to the passenger service centre.
Students will be assisted to take taxis that will shuttle them from the taxi stand to their examination venues.
They were also given priority to board shuttle buses by SMRT staff.
Speaking to Zaobao, a taxi driver, Wen Jingchang (transliterated from Chinese), 53, said cabbies received a text message from SMRT at around 2pm on Sep. 25.
The message asked for drivers who were interested in picking up candidates to be at the affected MRT stations at 6:15am the next day.
They would shuttle the Primary 6 students to their examination venues.
There were five taxis waiting at each MRT station offering free transportation to PSLE candidates, Wen said.
The PSLE English papers were to be administered on Sep. 26 from 8:15am to 9:25am, and from 10:30am to 12:20pm.
East-West Line failure
Services between Queenstown and Boon Lay stations were halted at around 9:30am on Sep. 25, affecting a total of nine stations along the EWL.
Free regular and bridging bus services are available between Boon Lay and Queenstown stations, and shuttle trains are running between Boon Lay and Jurong East, and Buona Vista and Queenstown.
There is currently no train service between Jurong East and Buona Vista station.
The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said students who are taking the PSLE written examinations from Sep. 26 to Oct. 2 "will not be penalised for being late to their examinations due to train service disruptions".
Affected students will be given the full duration of the paper if they reach the examination centre before the end of the paper.
Mothership has contacted SMRT for more details on the measure.
Top photo via Lianhe Zaobao and Mothership reader