And just like that, yet another year comes to an end, amongst many more that we will experience. It feels surreal too — not only does this New Year’s mark the end of 2025, it also concludes the first quarter of the 21st century too. The far-off future everyone talks about in the middle and later ends of the century is starting to close in gradually on us.
To put that into perspective, we’re now far closer to the year 2030 than it is to the landmark 2011 general elections that defined much of Singaporean political discourse since then. We’re closer to the year 2040 than the 2008 financial crisis that turned the world upside down, although some would argue that we are soon be headed for a similar international crisis in the coming months and years. Last but not least, the year 2050 is closer to us than the day the MRT first began running in 1987, which irreversibly transformed the transport landscape in Singapore since.
As the year 2026 begins, the focus is overwhelmingly on the future, a reality reflected in recent industry actions. In November 2025, MOT commenced the first of many public consultation sessions for the upcoming Land Transport Master Plan slated for release in 2027, with a special session hosted by Acting Minister of Transport Jeffrey Siow. We are honoured to have been invited to this special occasion charting the future of our land transport.
On the part of public transport operators and LTA, they’ve also been busy with re-orienting the land transport system for the future — with mixed results and reactions, for sure. 2025 has seen a steady improvement in bus electrification, with more than 400 electric buses in service by its end, up from the pathetic two-digit figure just a year early, with the remainder to be put into service soon, and a fresh order of another 660 buses incoming in the new year. With the prospects of the electric bus population crossing into four-digit territory, I’ll have to quit yapping about how far behind Singapore is in terms of bus electrification — and that’s a good thing, although that same attitude cannot be maintained for a whole host of operational and infrastructure concerns surrounding these new toys on the block.
On the rail side, the overarching theme of 2025 has been the lack of readiness to handle the future, and what’s expected in the year ahead is the preliminary steps towards enacting its remedy — the third quarter of 2025 in particular was plagued by a long chain of high-profile, high-fallout train disruptions, with an encore in the midst of the week-long closures related to the CAL2TEL (conversion of Changi Airport branch line to TEL, to be ready before 2040) delivering yet another rude slap to commuters’ faces. Some of these will be laudable, and other measures taken in the name of future readiness are likely to be questionable.
Nonetheless, it’s clear that with the first quarter of the century past us, the next goal is 2050 and beyond, and not something to lightly take in the world of rail planning specifically. The need to have a clear, bold vision for the future is unmistakably here to stay, especially in the months leading up to the formation of the one document that charts the growth of the network in the next 30 years.
With so much at stake for the future, and with the door opened wide open by LTA and co (with the Minister’s backing), this is a prime opportunity to actively take part in shaping the future of public transportation in Singapore, and as a key transport community with some name locally, it’s only responsible that we strongly encourage the wider public to join this conversation that will define how everyone moves around. Even if beyond the limits and scope of the Collective, ultimately it will be a good thing to transform the population’s current apathy into a driving force for positive change in the industry and field. Together as a six-million strong population, there’s a lot we can achieve if we strive for it.
Public transport aside, in matters relating to private vehicles and point to point transit, there has been plenty of developments. For better or worse, the situation does not differ that much from the public transport sector, as there has been a mix of questionable actions. For instance, in the Private Hire landscape, while we welcome the recent official launch of new entrants (Geolah and TransCab) to the ride-hailing industry. Severe doubt floods my mind on. Be it service, welfare or prices, the whole industry is kneecapped by record-high COE prices. The recent spate of money laundering through car rentals gave another blow to helpless car owner prospects on supporting the PHV business model.
On a somewhat related note when it comes to point-to-point transport (in the northeast at least), the introduction of actual service Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) is indeed quite the development from failed AV attempts of the past, but we are a fair bit behind the curve in advancements and use cases. Their current pricing and locations you can travel to and fro makes it a “Grab but worse”, in the words of the common Punggol resident. After all, novelty always fades after the honeymoon wow factor becomes the “new normal” in a few years. Nonetheless, its introduction is crucial for ensuring the long-term survival of our land-based public transport services, so it’ll be a hot topic to watch for years to come. Maybe that’ll be the next big thing to whip the current administration for its incompetence after electrification, who knows?
Now, if we were to single out the one sector that got shafted into the most misfortune, active mobility takes that cake. With the new enactment of sticks whacked onto cyclists for as so much as accidentally veering onto grey concrete next to their red path, yet internalized discrimination gives pedestrains the scot-free card should they do the same to cyclists. The endless feedback loop of cycling is a real life reminder that “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Neither have there been any major new cycling paths constructed to counteract such a killing factor into uptaking cycling.
Meanwhile for us here at STC, a large part of our work this year has been devoted to the development of our Transport Manifesto 2050, a project aimed at forming a ground-up alternative vision to the official LTMP. Earlier in December, we released the preliminary documents for the Rail Master Plan 2050 after a lengthy 18-month planning process from mid-2024. This is first of the Manifesto’s five Key Initiatives that we have fully opened up for public viewing, with the rest to come shortly after this year. Stay tuned, both here and on the TM50 website for more updates from our project!
There have been hurdles along the way too. In particular, as much as TM50 has aimed to be a broader concept planning project intended to include as much of the wider population as possible, it has unfortunately not avoided falling victim to the same kind of petty politics that public transport enthusiast communities in Singapore are plagued with. In particular, work on bus-related initiatives and proposals in TM50 had been temporarily halted in September over a major dispute which escalated far beyond the scope of the Team (and TM50 ExCo’s) purview. Work will continue in January, and the perpetrators involved will be dealt with.
Where we’ve been
The first most noticeable difference readers will feel this year is that the site has become a lot quieter compared to past years, and there’s good reasons for that — besides TM50, this year is also marked by a major restructuring of STC. Formerly just a blog site providing commentary on local transport issues, the growing community around it (which has lent us significant support for TM50, to which the Team is eternally grateful for) heralds the inevitable shift towards a more community-oriented approach requiring greater engagement with the public, and in the industry too in time to come.
In last year’s New Year message, we mentioned community events, as a platform for members of the STC community to come together to appreciate the intricacies of public transport. From the second half of 2025, STC events became open to the general public. We will also be working on new event formats to keep everyone engaged in the long-term conversation about the future of our city, and its transportation system. In September, we introduced the monthly Transit Roundtable scheme, which aimed to engage the wider public in these conversations on a regular basis, and intended to be easily accessible for them too. Do look forward to a refreshed format starting January, which aims to better enable participation in these small-scale public townhall events, and improve the representation of the experiences we hear during these sessions!
It goes even further beyond that — our diversification means that we will be delivering our commentary across multiple platforms, and finding ways to make these ideas of transport planning more concise and clear for our supportive audience. Thank you for walking this journey with us over the years, and it will get better in the future. Additionally, STC is exploring other ways to further expand our outreach with more stakeholders of our transport system, as well as to test out ideas conceptualised by the community. More updates on these programmes are expected to come later this year.
New home, same traditions 🙂
Back when we were still called SG Transport Critic, a yearly ritual on New Year’s Eve would be to unveil the list of most-viewed articles on the site, with one for all posts overall and another for those published in the year itself. With half a decade having passed since our very first posts, the lists for the year 2025 are quite interesting. As usual, here’s the all-time leaderboard:
- Fixing the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (7522 views)
- Interchanges: Singapore edition (6728 views)
- Basics: Interchanges (the good, the bad, the WTF) (5283 views)
- 10 years on, some lessons are not learnt (4797 views)
- Circle Line Stage 6: It’s So Screwed Up (4320 views)
- Hub-and-Spoke: Yishun the microcosm (3955 views)
- Fixing Jurong East interchagne (3823 views)
- Why are Japanese trains overcrowded? (3625 views)
- Alstom Movia R151: The Review (3193 views)
- Basics: Seat arrangement and seat capacity (3079 views)
No hyperlinks provided as the old site has been discontinued effective today. Links to migrated posts will be inserted progressively.
More meaningfully perhaps, is the list for posts published in 2025 itself. Statistics include the sum of views from both the old and new sites. No hyperlinks
1. A third link to Johor (2988 views)
Not sure if this is due to the upcoming opening of the RTS Link by end-2026, but cross-border transport connectivity tops the charts for this year.
2. The Sengkang-Punggol LRT: Another way forward (1408 views)
A rework of a proposal to fix the two LRT systems in northeastern Singapore I previously did in 2020, with a twist to include a new service aimed at relieving congestion on the NEL, whose overcrowding famously caused a linewide power outage in August. Also the introductory post to TM50’s Fernvale LRT line.
3. Overdue, but not forgotten (603 views)
In the wake of a catastrophic power outage that stranded nearly half a million Singaporeans in a corner of the northeast, the discourse around a conceptual “Seletar Line” from ages long past leaves much to be desired. Frankly, they had it coming with this one, and unless timely substantial intervention occurs, don’t count on NEL reliability improving soon.
4. Rethinking “RTS” (469 views)
In a similar vein to the #1 for 2025, another post on cross-border issues that garnered some traction after a prominent Johor politician began floating the idea of a second, follow-up successor system to the RTS Link slated to open in 2026.
5. The rightful best side (458 views)
A review of Tampines town, which is probably contributes half of what gives the statement “east side, best side” its substance. But what exactly makes the east side the best side? Funfact: this town won a UN award for urban planning too!
6. How can transit strengthen — and weaken the social compact? (283 views)
A guest post commenting on the relationship between public transport development and the communities that grow around it, be it physically or metaphysically.
7. To Build Abundance, Think Broad (266 views)
Explaining why the entire “Transit Priority Corridor” scheme launched by LTA in recent years hasn’t quite achieved the effect that it was supposed to have — it’s a conceptual issue in the project scoping and delivery. To succeed, think not in terms of discrete projects but add-ons to existing street infrastructure.
8. The hidden MVP of buses (261 views)
A post that should have been done long ago, introducing the concept of long feeder services that play highly useful roles in our daily lives. Contains a full explainer of what they are, how they came about, and common misconceptions around them that muddle the waters of discourse.
9. Punggol’s Second Gadgetbahn (253 views)
I went to the official launch of Punggol’s upcoming AV trial scheme with not very high hopes, and still managed to get disappointed. Side note to the industry: there’s loads of people your vehicles gotta carry.
10. On expansions and contractions (99 views)
A review of the TEL, now in its fourth stage of development with the final stage (as initially conceived) wrapping up in the new year.
Honourable Mention: ChargedUp@SG 2.0: the exhibition visit (84 views)
In November 2025, STC was formally invited to ChargedUp@SG 2.0, the largest EV event in Southeast Asia. While our schedules didn’t permit us much, we still managed to get a glimpse of the many EVs being exhibited, and spoke briefly with the representatives on site. Here’s what we managed to learn about the EV industry with what we had.
But many things new!
2026 marks the second stage of STC’s transition to a multidisciplinary transport design and advocacy group, after our initial rebrand last July. Alongside this transformation, many changes (and new additions) can be expected, and this section just aims to give a very brief overview of what’s in store for the STC community.
Firstly and most importantly, today marks the completion of transition from the old STC website to the new. As announced earlier last year, the old STC website will cease operations effective today, 1st January 2026. Posts from the old website will continue to be transferred progressively to the new site (this one) you’re reading on, and hopefully you’ve subscribed here to not miss out on what’s happening here at STC! (On a side note, for those who subscribed here — don’t mind the notifs in your inbox from old posts getting transferred here, paiseh)
Earlier as part of TM50 promotion works, STC’s subsidiary (Singapore Rail Roblox Group, SRRG) launched a Roblox rendition of RMP50’s Holland-Long Island Line Stage 1, aimed at giving the wider public a glimpse of what TM50’s rail plans offer. This was fully opened to public access on 21st December, with more projects coming soon throughout the new year. Details for SRRG’s various projects can be found on their website.
Also on the topic of game development projects led by STC, a community Minecraft server is also planned for the purpose of urban planning experimentation. Currently in the initial development phases, the server will be initially made open to the STC community only, before being fully opened to the wider public. Do look out for updates here in time to come too, and we look forward to your active input playing on the server!
The STC Partner Program will be launched in early 2026, as an expanded platform for interested external parties to collaborate with the Collective on joint projects, organising joint events, or even something as simple as collating research data from our community. On top of that, the Partner Program also enables external parties to contribute their own content on our various planned publications, including the current one on STC Commentary (via article form). This is an expansion upon the original guest posting scheme launched two years ago to encourage reader input on STC, in reflection of our broader work profile today. Interested parties may contact the Team through various channels to put forth your partnership proposals and we will consider them based on our resource availability to support your projects.
Last but not least, in response to popular demand, STC will be expanding into the domain of audiovisual content, with video series complementing our current text-based publications! In line with our broader theme of greater public engagement, do expect an interesting series of video content to come up alongside those similar in content to the current STC Commentary series. We’re still studying the many options available, and we promise you that you’ll be hearing about it sooner rather than later :>
With all that said, there will be more to come in what’s poised to be a very exciting year for public transport, and engaging the wider community around it. I certainly look forward to the many opportunities for cooperation that can, and will be opened up, as we gear up for a future that we will actively shape. It’s been an honour working with everyone in 2025, and let’s continue creating possibilities together in 2026! Team STC, signing off~ ~AMC
Messages From The Team
And continuing with our tradition, we cannot forget the messages from the very team whom has vested countless hours into the site!
“Every 365 days in Singapore, a year passes.” Okay well I meant to say, time is passing by faster the more our site grows, and with every minute occupied we are with projects spearheaded together!
I’ve had a time of my life hanging out with every single one you y’all in our events. Particularly the CRL2 PIC visit as well as our roundtable sessions. And what we have achieved over the past year is worth reckoning about. A hundred or so Singaporeans, whom we are barely acquainted with, are able to collective brainstorm and propose ideas that even higher up industry experts (read: LTA) find worth reading! Truly forming the “Collective” in the STC!
On a side note, my favourite moment of the year is the Mixue “ritual” after CRL2 PIC, which also segways into me congratulating my Town (Punggol) for having a Mixue effective since 2025!
I hope all of y’all’s 2025 are just as fabulous and fruitful as mine. And let’s look forward to an expanded 2026, where we’ll go beyond the stars!
Hi everyone, its been a very interesting year for both STC and the transport community as a whole, and it has been a very interesting and fulfilling 2+ years for me as well. Thanks for being part of the community, even if you started reading back in 2020 or just found this website today. Here’s to a fruitful 2026!
@theroyaluprising:
Happy New Year!! Undoubtedly, 2025 has been the year our Collective has charted the highest point thus far in our history. this past year, we have scaffolded large parts of Transport Manifesto 2050, a multi-pronged plan that seeks to look deeper into our nuanced, storied and extensive transport system, and find ways to improve it in the years to come. In the year to come, let us seek to strengthen our role as a reasonable platform for discourse on how we want to pump our home’s lifeblood. Let us seek to live out our dreams of a more well-connected Singapore, and suggest dynamic solutions to potential challenges that may befall us in the near future. I thank you for spending this year with you all, talking about our journeys, plans, and grievances. Indeed, a system’s soul is shaped by its users, who take passion in it, even as a valuable hobby. Happy New Year!
@Xessustsae5358
Hi there!
It has been a busy year for all of us here in STC, as we all have been busy with TM50 and other major events like the CRL2 PIC.
While posts in STC have been slow this year, we have accelerated with TM50, and now that it is ready to be launched very soon, we can finally go back to more regular posts very soon. Who knows? Maybe I will make a post very soon… o.o
Until then, have a happy new year, and I’ll catch you on the next post! ~XT
Interested in building a better future for Singapore’s transport? Join the STC community on Discord today!
Singapore Transport Collective 
Leave a comment