Crowd try to board already full bus at Yew Tee during MRT disruption: 'People pushed like living hell'
There was a meme about Yew Tee posted by SGAG recently.
It was an aerial photo of Yew Tee Square next to the Yew Tee MRT station and the joke was "Things to do when you visit Yew Tee: 1. Take MRT and leave."
That was it.
Exactly a week later, you couldn't take the MRT to leave Yew Tee if you wanted to.
On June 3 at about 5.50pm, a power traction fault caused by a lightning strike occurred on the North-South Line between Kranji and Marsiling stations, according to SMRT.
Preliminary investigations found a small fire involving a power control box located about 20m from the Kranji station platform.
As a result, train service was unavailable between Yew Tee and Woodlands in both directions.
To assist commuters, free regular bus and bridging bus services were available between Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands in both directions.
Stomper Christopher shared a video of the chaos at the bus stop outside Yew Tee MRT station as a crowd of people tried to get onto a double-decker bus that was already full.
"All the people pushed like living hell and no authority was there to direct the way. All were squeezing and pushing," said the Stomper.
Passengers on the bus were trying to get off at the same time. One man carrying a stack of styrofoam planks eventually managed to alight.
Stomper Hanzwani shared a photo of the sea of commuters in the Yew Tee MRT station.
Other videos of the crowd were also posted online.
The service disruption also affected at several other MRT stations on the North-South Line.
Sharing a photo of the lines of people at the Choa Chu Kang bus interchange, Stomper TJ said she waited 1½ hours and the taxi fare from Choa Chu Kang to Woodlands was more than $50.
SMRT said that regular train services progressively resumed between Choa Chu Kang and Yew Tee stations at about 8.10pm.
You can now take the MRT and leave Yew Tee with no problem.
