Documenting Bishan Bus Interchange

The non-air-conditioned, open-air bus interchange in Singapore is an endangered species.

The current trend is to convert open-air bus interchanges into air-conditioned Integrated Transport Hubs (ITHs), which connect a bus interchange, MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station, and shopping mall in one seamless space.

There are 10 ITHs in Singapore. Yishun Bus Interchange became Yishun ITH in 2019; Woodlands Bus Interchange became Woodlands ITH in 2021. The same year, work started on turning Jurong East Bus Interchange into Jurong East ITH.

So far, Bishan Bus Interchange remains an open-air bus interchange.

Not much about the bus interchange has changed since it opened on 30 April 1989. It was built to complement Bishan MRT Station, which had opened two years earlier to serve the up-and-coming New Town of Bishan.

Integrating bus interchanges in towns with MRT stations had been a policy since 1984, as town building proceeded at a brisk pace alongside the construction of Singapore’s MRT system.

The Business Times, 31 October 1984. Credit: SPH Media Trust.

Creativity was invested in the architecture of Bishan Bus Interchange, to give residents of fledgling Bishan New Town something to cheer about.

As The New Paper reported in November 1988, a few months before the opening of the bus interchange:

Credit: SPH Media Trust.

Is it a bus interchange? Or a piece of Disneyland in Bishan?

Now it’s just half ready. But the new bus interchange at Bishan New Town Street 13 is already an eye-catcher.

This colourful castle-like structure right in front of the interchange will soon be greeting passengers and drivers.

Next to the pink “castle” will be a children’s playground and a round-top building housing a fast food restaurant.

A HDB spokesman said: “We want each new town to have its own distinctive feature. With time, this interchange may even become the landmark for Bishan.”

The castle-like structure has survived to the present:

Credit: Google Maps.

When the bus interchange finally opened, it replaced a nearby temporary bus terminal. According to The Straits Times, it “had the facilities of a modern bus interchange, including a sheltered passenger concourse, colour-coded queuing system, coin-changing machines, information boards and a canteen”.

And then, 33 years passed.

Taking the escalator up to ground level from the Circle Line segment of Bishan MRT Interchange, I was greeted by a spacious, open-air concourse with a high ceiling. It was obvious SBS Transit ran the place - their livery coloured the pillars.

Like other bus interchanges, buses were parked in the open next to the alighting and boarding berths.

It was raining heavily, and there were strong winds, so it was cool in the open-air bus interchange.

A helpful map showing the layout of the bus interchange. In 1989, it served four trunk services; today, there are 11 services beginning from the bus interchange.

The alighting area.

Berth B3.

Berth B4.

The bus interchange was a constant hive of activity - buses ceaselessly moved in and out.

An iconic feature of open-air bus interchanges - the metal bars for waiting passengers.

Also, the coloured metal boards displaying service numbers.

And of course, the orange floor tiles.

I am not sure for how long Bishan Bus Interchange will remain as it is. It might be converted into an ITH when neighbouring Junction 8 is redeveloped. That doesn’t seem to be on the cards anytime soon, but who knows.

The lost houses of Merpati Road

Along Merpati Road, a stone’s throw from Mattar MRT Station, there exists the remains of civilisation.

A row of terraced houses used to face the road.

Credit: Google Maps.

However, they were acquired by the State in 2010, and were demolished by 2019. Today, they have been replaced by an open field.

The junction of Jalan Anggerek and Merpati Road, where the open field is.

Merpati Road is to the right. Driveways over the open drain survive as vestiges of what was once there.

The area around Mattar MRT Station is awaiting redevelopment; the terraced houses were the last of a series of housing units to gradually disappear from the area.

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After World War II ended in 1945, the northern part of the area bounded by MacPherson Road, Aljunied Road, and Paya Lebar Road was largely open ground, with scattered tree cultivation.

Credit: Singapore Land Authority.

The first private housing estate came up in the area by the early 1950s. Named Playfair Estate, it was served by roads named after animals and plants. They included Jalan Anggerek (Malay for a type of orchid), Jalan Belangkas (Horseshoe Crab), and Jalan Chengkek (Clove).

The 1954 street directory.

Interestingly, Playfair Road was on the other side of MacPherson, a short distance to the east; Playfair Road was nowhere inside Playfair Estate.

By 1961, high-rise housing blocks arose in the area south of Playfair Estate. In all, 14 blocks were constructed - Blocks 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 to 18 Jalan Merpati (Malay for Pigeon). Jalan Merpati was laid down off Aljunied Road, and joined Mattar Road.

This was the rise of MacPherson (Road Housing) Estate (even though MacPherson Road was some distance away, like how Playfair Road was some distance from Playfair Estate).

The 1963 street directory.

By the early 1970s, more housing blocks were built to the east of Jalan Merpati’s dwellings. More roads were laid down to serve these blocks - Persiaran Keliling, Jalan Balam, and Jalan Pipit. “Persiaran” is Malay for “Promenade”, and “Keliling” means “To Go Around”, and the road was named as such because it was horseshoe-shaped.

The 1966 street directory.

Soon after, though, the three roads were respectively renamed Circuit Road, Balam Road, and Pipit Road. Jalan Merpati was also renamed Merpati Road.

The 1984 street directory reveals the individual blocks of MacPherson Estate.

Redevelopment came soon. Between 1991 and 1993, most of the oldest blocks at Merpati Road were torn down. Blocks 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15 to 18, and a food centre - all south of Merpati Road - were demolished, leaving Blocks 12 to 14 in a row north of Merpati Road. All that was left were two car parks that once served the flats.

The 1993 street directory.

Between 1993 and 1995, two short roads at the southern end of Playfair Estate - Jalan Bunga Mas and Jalan Teratai, both off Jalan Raya - were expunged. The buildings that lined the roads were torn down too. They included workshops along Jalan Teratai, and a Monkey God temple at Jalan Bunga Mas.

A 1984 Singapore Monitor advertisement for a car workshop along Jalan Teratai. Credit: SPH Media Trust.

Sixteen years later, the corner of Merpati Road and Mattar Road - where Blocks 8, 11, 15, and the food centre once stood - was dug up for the construction of Mattar MRT Station of the Downtown Line. The station opened in 2017.

Today, traces of Jalan Bunga Mas and Jalan Teratai remain.

The remains of Jalan Bunga Mas.

The remains of Jalan Teratai.

The area around Mattar MRT Station is ready for the next chapter of history.

As for Blocks 12, 13, and 14 Merpati Road, they are on borrowed time.

50 years of Tanglin Shopping Centre

After four attempts, Tanglin Shopping Centre has finally been sold for $868 million to Singapore-based developer Pacific Eagle Real Estate.

The clock is ticking on the 50-year-old commercial complex along Tanglin Road.

Tanglin Shopping Centre comprises a six-storey podium block, a 12-storey tower block rising six storeys above the podium block, and a car park occupying an eight-storey annex.

Basement 2 to the sixth storey are occupied by retail and office units, while the top six floors of the tower block are entirely office units.

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The concept of the multi-storey, air-conditioned shopping complex as a one-stop shopping destination came about in Singapore a couple of years after its independence from Malaysia in 1965.

At the time, Singapore was still trying to find its feet as an independent city-state; it was industrialising and modernising, and trying to shed the old for the new. Singaporeans were still used to shopping at shophouses and markets.

As urban renewal started to sweep through the old City, developers started pouring millions into building shopping complexes.

Newspaper advertisements for Tanglin Shopping Centre started appearing in 1969, and the podium block was completed by developer S. K. Chee by January 1972, at a cost of $7.5 million. It was the first of its kind along the Tanglin Road-Orchard Road shopping belt.

A 1969 Straits Times ad for a position in Tanglin Shopping Centre. Credit: SPH Media Trust.

A 1970 Straits Times ad, with the shopping complex’s original logo. Credit: SPH Media Trust.

Nearing completion in October 1971. Credit: SPH Media Trust.

Other shopping complexes completed around the same time included Peninsula Shopping Centre at Coleman Street, and Specialist Centre at Orchard Road (demolished in 2008).

Shortly before its opening, in September 1971, the New Nation discussed the new phenomenon of the shopping complex:

Credit: SPH Media Trust.

There is uncertainty over whether Singapore will soon have too many shopping arcades and complexes.

Developers generally say there is need for more shopping complexes but they seem unsure how long this need will last.

There are six shopping complexes in full operation, four more being readied for customers, three others being planned, and more are on the drawing board…

Developers I spoke to have the same straight-faced confidence they had when the complex concept first took root in 1967. Singapore, they say, seems to be overbuilding everything, but not shopping complexes and arcades…

“Shopping complexes will change the shopping habits of Singaporeans,” said Mr. T. M. Goh, whose Golden Mile Shopping Centre will open early next year. “Instead of browsing from rows and rows of shops and hopping across the roads to get what you want, you can get everything under one roof in a complex.

“Complexes are the thing of the future. Shop rows will have to go. The new concept in shopping is more convenient and comfortable, with easy parking and modern facilities. Customers don’t mind paying a little more for all this.”

Tanglin Shopping Centre got off to a roaring start, with 150 shops and kiosks occupying almost all available commercial space. German airline Lufthansa paid a cool $1.2 million for 5,000 square feet of office space on the ground and second floors (below). Occupancy rates remained near 100 per cent in the first few years.

Credit: SPH Media Trust.

This initial success prompted S. K. Chee to commence Phase II of construction - the tower block was completed around 1980. A circular concourse was added in the basement for exhibitions and campaigns, to be surrounded by antique shops. One of the antique shops was Antiques of the Orient, founded by Michael J. Sweet and Julie Yeo. It later moved to a larger space on the second floor.

Mr Sweet with antique paintings in Antiques of the Orient, in 1981. Credit: SPH Media Trust.

And Tanglin Shopping Centre stood for another four decades.

***

I visited Tanglin Shopping Centre to see how it was faring.

The facade facing east.

The same view 51 years ago, in 1971, as the complex was nearing completion. This was before the tower block came up.

Credit: SPH Media Trust.

The architecture of the building exposed Basement Level 1 to the outside, which was a nice touch.

The foyer, where taxis and private-hire vehicles dropped off and picked up fares.

The main entrance at the podium block, which was rather small.

Level 1, raised about half a storey above ground level. There were several carpet shops here.

The interior looked dated and tired, and many shops were shuttered or empty. The mall had clearly seen better days.

The second floor.

I had the whole place to myself, and this was a Sunday afternoon.

I searched for Antiques of the Orient, and the floor directory listed it as occupying Units 39 and 40, but they were empty. The shop, like so many others, had left the mall.

The upper floors of the podium block.

The ground-floor lift lobby of the tower block. The tower block was equally quiet, and I took the lift to every floor to look around. No one stopped me.

The 10th floor.

The circular concourse at Basement Level 1 of the tower block.

The same location in 1981. Tzen Gallery has survived to the present...

... but again, most of the surrounding tenants have moved out.

A final look at Tanglin Shopping Centre before I left.