Visitors struggle to use lifts after escalator breaks down at Gardens by the Bay's Cloud Forest
An escalator breakdown caused a disruption at the Cloud Forest, one of two cooled conservatories at Gardens by The Bay on Deepavali (Oct 31).
Stomper LY alerted Stomp to the incident and shared a photo of the escalator. One of the steps appears to be dislodged.
According to the Stomper, the affected escalator was between levels 5 and 4 and was for visitors going down.
"It disrupted the flow of traffic on a public holiday," said the Stomper.
"Staff were quickly stationed at the area while visitors were redirected to the lifts at level 5.
"However, the unexpected incident led to significant delays as individuals with baby prams struggled to board the lift at level 4.
"It was frustrating, especially because the lifts were all directed to level 5 and visitors on other levels were forced to take the escalators and stairs with their babies and prams."
The Stomper, who was at the conservatory with his cousin's family, including a young toddler in the stroller, said that several people were crowding the lifts at level 5.
They were waiting for a lift at level 4 but when one finally arrived, LY said that a staff member did not want to let the family in.
"She wanted to use the lift to transport visitors from level 5 and promised to come back down to level 4 to pick us up," the Stomper said.
"However, we did not think this was possible as once the lift goes to level 5 it would come down full and we would not be able to board.
"Hence, we requested to board the lift first and go up to level 5 together with the staff member without exiting before going down again to level 1."
Fortunately for the family, the staffer obliged and they managed to get down to level 1 quickly.
"When the lift door opened at level 5, the whole lift lobby was flooded with visitors trying to rush in but the lift had a capacity limit so they were asked to queue," LY said.
"If we had listened to the staff, we would have had to wait for hours as the escalator going up to level 5 was still working so more and more visitors were heading upwards."
In response to a Stomp query, a Gardens by the Bay spokesperson said: "An escalator in Cloud Forest stopped working yesterday night, about two hours before closing time.
"Visitors were redirected while rectification works were carried out.
"The breakdown, which was likely caused by a foreign object lodged in the steps, has since been resolved, and the escalator resumed operation this morning.
"We regret any inconvenience caused."
