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The MRT system is presently no stranger to controversy with its frequent disruptions that are a bane to commuters.
When it does actually run smoothly, however, it is an affordable and efficient way to get round our island.
Bearing this in mind, it is perhaps hard to imagine that the MRT might not have even been built, if not for the late Ong Teng Cheong who had tenaciously pushed for its construction.
Early beginnings in 1967
The idea of the MRT system was first proposed in 1967 by the planners of the State and City Planning Project, which had been initiated in the same year to guide the physical development of Singapore.
Singapore was only into its second year of independence back then.
A team of planners, with the help of the United Nations Development Programme, peered very hard into the future and predicted that a transportation system based on buses alone would fail by 1992.
So, an MRT system aimed to serve as an island-wide public transport system to improve connectivity between the city centre and residential areas, as well as to ease traffic congestion and reduce pollution.
Ong Teng Cheong, who was then an architect in private practice in 1967, was among the planning team.
More at https://mothership.sg/2017/11/ong-t...-spore-despite-it-being-a-controversial-idea/
When it does actually run smoothly, however, it is an affordable and efficient way to get round our island.
Bearing this in mind, it is perhaps hard to imagine that the MRT might not have even been built, if not for the late Ong Teng Cheong who had tenaciously pushed for its construction.
Early beginnings in 1967
The idea of the MRT system was first proposed in 1967 by the planners of the State and City Planning Project, which had been initiated in the same year to guide the physical development of Singapore.
Singapore was only into its second year of independence back then.
A team of planners, with the help of the United Nations Development Programme, peered very hard into the future and predicted that a transportation system based on buses alone would fail by 1992.
So, an MRT system aimed to serve as an island-wide public transport system to improve connectivity between the city centre and residential areas, as well as to ease traffic congestion and reduce pollution.
Ong Teng Cheong, who was then an architect in private practice in 1967, was among the planning team.
More at https://mothership.sg/2017/11/ong-t...-spore-despite-it-being-a-controversial-idea/
