From 27 December 2025, the Land Transport Authority will introduce free morning off-peak rides and enhance the existing Travel Smart Journeys scheme, to reduce congestion on the North East Line (NEL) and Sengkang–Punggol LRT (SPLRT).
The year-long pilot will benefit commuters in the northeast region of Singapore, who start their weekday journeys at selected train stations during off-peak hours (before 7.30am, and between 9.00am and 9.45am). This pilot scheme will run for least a year.
Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides
Commuters who tap in at any of the 6 NEL stations between Punggol Coast station and Kovan station or any SPLRT station, before 7.30am or between 9.00am and 9.45am on weekdays (excluding public holidays), will enjoy free travel for the first rail trip of the journey.
No registration is required, as long as commuters tap in and out using the same fare card or payment mode.
All other commuters will continue to enjoy a 50-cent discount off their rail trips under the Morning Pre-Peak Fares Scheme when they tap in before 7.45am at any rail station islandwide on weekdays (excluding public holidays).
Enhanced Travel Smart Journeys Rewards
The Travel Smart Journeys will be made more accessible to commuters as the requirement for a qualifying travel history will be removed.
Also, the pre-peak eligibility window will be extended from before 7.15am to before 7.30am, to align with that of Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Travel. The post-peak rewards will also be standardised at 80% for travel between 9.00am to 9.45am, an increase from 40% for selected post-peak windows.
| Current | From 27 Dec 2025 |
| • Tap in between 7.15am and 8.45am on at least six weekdays over the past 30 calendar days • Tap in at the following MRT / LRT stations: – Punggol Coast, Punggol, Sengkang, Buangkok, Hougang or Kovan MRT Station – Any LRT Station along the SPLRT • Tap out at any MRT/LRT station (excluding stations on the SPLRT) |
• No enrollment criteria; all users are immediately eligible upon registration within the SimplyGo app • No change to eligible tap-in stations (6 NEL stations + all SPLRT stations) • Tap out at any MRT/LRT station |
| MRT/LRT tap-in time: • Before 7.15am: 80% rebate of journey fare • 8.45am – 8.59am: 40% rebate of journey fare • 9.00am – 9.30am: 80% rebate of journey fare • 9.31am – 9.45am: 40% rebate of journey fare |
MRT/LRT tap-in time: • Before 7.30am: 80% rebate of journey fare • 9.00am – 9:45am: 80% rebate of journey fare |
In combination with Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides, commuters can thus not only enjoy free travel on the rail leg of their journey, but also an 80% rebate on the bus leg(s) of their journey. The rebate is awarded as points in the SimplyGo app.
To qualify for TSJ incentives, commuters must register via the SimplyGo app, under the Services tab. Points earned can be redeemed in blocks of 500 points (equivalent to $5.00) as cash value credited directly into their travel cards.
Commuters can refer to the following examples:
Example 1 (Bus → MRT commute)
Fare for an Adult Commuter travelling from residence at 190C Rivervale Drive to Raffles Place Station (via Bus Service 161, transferring at Sengkang MRT) in the morning.
| Time Period (rail tap-in) | Before 7.30am | 7.30am–7:44am | 7.45am–8:49am | 9.30am–9:45am | 9:45am onwards |
| Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides# | Rail portion free ($0.83 saved) |
N/A | N/A | Rail portion free ($0.83 saved) |
N/A |
| PTC’s Morning Pre-Peak Fares scheme* | N/A | $0.50 discount on rail fare | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| TSJ Discount^ | 80% rebate on bus fare ($1.02 saved) |
N/A | N/A | 80% rebate on bus fare ($1.02 saved) |
N/A |
| Fare Payable (Original fare: $2.11) |
$0.26 ($1.85 saved) |
$1.61 ($0.50 saved) |
$2.11 (no discount) |
$0.26 ($1.85 saved) |
$2.11 (no discount) |
# Free Off-Peak Rail Travel at eligible NEL and SPLRT stations when commuters tap-in before 7.30am, or between 9.00am and 9.45am, on weekdays (excluding Public Holidays).
* Commuters who tap-in before 7.45 am can continue to enjoy savings of up to $0.50 under the Morning Pre-Peak Fares Scheme.
^ Commuters must register for the TSJ programme to be eligible for TSJ rewards. The rail portion of journeys is free under the Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides scheme. The fare prices listed in the table apply only after redeeming points in blocks of 500 points (equivalent to $5.00).
Example 2 (LRT→ MRT commute)
Fare for an Adult Commuter travelling from Oasis LRT Station to Tuas Link MRT Station in the morning.
| Time Period (rail tap-in) | Before 7.30am | 7.30am–7:44am | 7.45am–8:49am | 9.30am–9:45am | 9:45am onwards |
| Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides# | Rail portion free ($2.57 saved) |
N/A | N/A | Rail portion free ($2.57 saved) |
N/A |
| PTC’s Morning Pre-Peak Fares scheme* | N/A | $0.50 discount on rail fare | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| TSJ Discount^ | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Fare Payable (Original fare: $2.57) |
$0.00 ($2.57 saved) |
$2.07 ($0.50 saved) |
$2.57 (no discount) |
$0.00 ($2.57 saved) |
$2.57 (no discount) |
In this rail-only scenario, the Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides take precedence over the TSJ scheme. No rebate is offered via the TSJ for free rail journeys.
Example 3 (MRT → Bus commute)
Fare for an Adult Commuter travelling from Kovan MRT to Pacific Tech Centre (transferring at Chinatown MRT to Bus Service 147) in the morning.
| Time Period (rail tap-in) | Before 7.30am | 7.30am–7:44am | 7.45am–8:49am | 9.30am–9:45am | 9:45am onwards |
| Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides# | Rail portion free ($1.90 saved) |
N/A | N/A | Rail portion free ($1.90 saved) |
N/A |
| PTC’s Morning Pre-Peak Fares scheme* | N/A | $0.50 discount on rail fare | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| TSJ Discount^ | 80% rebate on bus fare ($0.14 saved) |
N/A | N/A | 80% rebate on bus fare ($0.14 saved) |
N/A |
| Fare Payable (Original fare: $2.07) |
$0.03 ($2.04 saved) |
$1.57 ($0.50 saved) |
$2.07 (no discount) |
$0.03 ($2.04 saved) |
$2.07 (no discount) |
Extending the TSJ Rebate to Five New Bus Services
From mid-December 2025, TSJ will also be enhanced to include five new City Direct Services (CDS), connecting residents in Hougang, Sengkang and Punggol Towns to city areas such as the Central Business District and Orchard.
These services were announced earlier on 12 October 2025 under the Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme (BCEP) scheme, with route details expected to be announced in November 2025.
Existing services Service 43e and CDS 654, 660, 660M, 666, 671, 672, 673, 675, 676, 677, and 678 will continue to be eligible for TSJ incentives.
Example 4 (Switching from Rail to CDS)
An adult commuter travelling from Damai LRT Station to Promenade Station who switches to City Direct Service 666 during the morning peak hours:
- Original fare payable for rail ride: $2.11
- Effective fare payable if commuter takes CDS: $0.69 (80% rebate on $3.46 bus fare via TSJ; saving $2.77)
External Links & References
- LTA | Free Morning Off-Peak Rail Rides [Accessed 18 Oct 2025]
- Free morning off-peak train rides in northeast Singapore from Dec 27 – CNA [Accessed 18 Oct 2025]
West side of singapore will not benefit from this. They are always crowded during peak hours.
This wont solve much to be honest. What is needed is to introduce some full day express/trunk services from the north east to the city to compliment the NEL. Adding any more trains may put a strain on the NEL power supply which is likely already maxed out. Its either this or ask LTA to fastcheck/give a more credible update on the Seletar Line. The Seletar Line is desperately needed at this point in the North East, NEL is already beyond capacity already and unlikely to be able to expand anymore. Even now Seletar Line still hasnt been officially confirmed, still doing feasiblity studies since 2019, even then still have stuff like construction…and even possibly whether to merge with Tengah Line. On the other hand, they want more people to take the CDS services to relieve NEL but still increase the fares? Got ppl still want to take it then? Lets not forget it goes on the expressway and have high chance of a jam and cds services arent neccessary faster than NEL, it could be slower.
This won’t help reduce crowding on NEL for sure. I have known countless other people already opting to travel via bus than take the NEL.
It will help. I know more commuters will take the train because of this. Speaking as a senior MRT operator.
TSJ removal of the nerollment criteria makes a lot of sense and should have been done a lot earlier. The old system was completely flawed in that if you were not already eligible in the first place, you would have to force yourself to ride the train for *six* days during peak hours before you could be eligible. Totally backwards.