Gali Batu Bus Terminal is a bus terminal north of Bukit Panjang, just off Woodlands Road. The bus terminal is built on the roof slab of Gali Batu MRT Depot‘s expanded train stabling area and connected to Woodlands Road via a pedestrian link bridge.
Gali Batu Bus Terminal commenced operations on 23 January 2021, replacing the old Bukit Panjang Temporary Bus Park. It is currently not open to passengers and only serves as a terminating point for Bus Services 75 and 184.
Details:
| Name | Gali Batu Bus Terminal | 卡利巴株巴士终站 |
| Address | 3 Jalan Gali Batu, Singapore 678673 |
| BCM Route Package | Choa Chu Kang – Bukit Panjang Bus Package |
| Anchor Operator(s) | SMRT Buses Ltd |
| Bus Routes | 2 (SMRT Buses) |
| Berths | 2 Sawtooth Berths |
| Rail Connection | Not Applicable |
The Terminal:
Gali Batu Bus Terminal is a bus terminal just off Woodlands Road, built on the roof slab of Gali Batu MRT Depot‘s expanded train stabling area. It serves as a terminating point for bus routes serving the Bukit Panjang area, and does not offer any rail connections.
The interchange has a single bus park offering 20 rigid bus lots and 10 articulated bus lots. Vehicles enter the interchange via separate ingress and egress ramps leading to a spur route of Jalan Gali Batu, which runs adjacent to the terminal and on elevated ground. Commuters can reach the interchange on foot from either Jalan Gali Batu (next to vehicle entrance) or via Woodlands Road, where the overhead pedestrian bridge connects directly to the bus terminal.
The passenger concourse features two sawtooth boarding berths and an alighting berth.
Historical Background
The bus terminal was constructed as part of a depot expansion project at Gali Batu MRT Depot. Contract 9061 for the Expansion of Gali Batu MRT Depot involved the expanding of the train depot’s stabling capacity from 42 trains to 81 trains by 2019, and was awarded to Hock Lian Seng Infrastructure Ltd in January 2015 at a contract sum of $137.4 million. The contract also includes the construction of the Gali Batu Bus Terminal, built on top of the train stabling area and connected to Woodlands Road via a pedestrian link bridge.
The construction of the bus terminal above a rail depot mirrors that of Tuas Bus Terminal which was opened in October 2017.
In August 2020, a COVID-19 swab station was set up in Gali Batu Bus Terminal for the testing of public transport workers. Ferry bus services were provided by SMRT Buses to ferry their staff to and from the swabbing station. In end-2020, the terminal was used as a temporary storage location for several LTA Storage Buses under the Bus Contracting Model.
Opening
The bus terminal officially opened on Saturday, 23 January 2021. Despite being outfitted with commuter facilities, the terminal was not open to the public. As a result, boarding and alighting activities are not allowed at the terminal.
Bus Services 75 & 184 uses Gali Batu Bus Terminal as a layover point between trips. The last stop for Gali Batu-bound buses is Woodlands Road (Opp Blk 635A), where all passengers must alight. The first boarding stop for these services is at Woodlands Road (Aft KJE Slip Rd).
A Straits Times article quoted an LTA spokesman which said that the terminal had been designed with boarding and alighting facilities “to serve developments around the bus terminal in future”. At present, only light industries are located in the vicinity.
More details: Bus Service Changes for the Opening of Gali Batu Bus Terminal
Future Plans
An LTA spokesperson commented that “Gali Batu Bus Terminal has been designed with boarding and alighting facilities to serve developments around the bus terminal in future.” to The Straits Times, in an article about the opening of Gali Batu Bus Terminal.
Gali Batu Bus Terminal facilities:
- Interchange offices
- Drivers’ lounge
- NTWU Canteen
- Toilets & Nursing room
Bus Services:
| Service | Berth | Destination | Remarks |
| 75 | — | Bukit Merah | No boarding and alighting |
| 184 | — | ↺ Commonwealth Avenue West (Loop) | No boarding and alighting |
Berth Allocation:
| Berth | Type | Services |
| Alighting | Linear | For alighting only |
| B1 | Sawtooth | – |
| B2 | Sawtooth | – |
Gallery (2020):
Gallery (2019 and earlier):
Click for larger images:
Gallery (Artist’s Impression / Notices):
Click for larger images:
External Links & References:
Back to Bus Interchanges and Terminals
Back to Bus Articles
If 75 & 184 are going to be only services that operate out of Gali Batu in the long term, then it’ll be just another white elephant like Compassvale Int due to likely under-utilization. For a terminal that has an ironically bigger capacity than Bukit Panjang ITH, I hope LTA will use it to their advantage by extending other routes like 180, 974, 976 (from CCK Int) or even 171 as well. Hopefully LTA will remove the boarding/alighting restrictions for this terminal soon.
Gali Batu Ter can potentially be transformed into a mini ‘hub’ for Yew Tee residents if 976 is extended to GB via Yew Tee as they’ll have improved access to other estates such as Bukit Timah, Clementi, Boon Lay and Yishun via 75/171/ 180/184/974. Of course this is just wishful thinking as there are plans to extend DTL to Sungei Kadut via GB & YT in the future. But this will only take place in the next decade or later so I think my suggestion is plausible for the short-term.
Which bus stop is the bridge at woodlands road to the bus terminal?
Before Yew Tee Flyover (44999) bus-stop
Obviously, as now is during the epidemic, in order to prevent community infection, the authorities have decided to temporarily not allow passengers to get on and off the bus at this bus terminal. In addition, I believe that the route 974 bus will also park at this bus terminal for the captain to rest. As for why route 974 has not been changed, it is probably because if the route is extended to this bus terminal, the route will be too complicated, making it difficult for passengers to understand the operation of this route, so it was decided to keep route 974 as it is.
That could totally have been solved by extending 176 to Gali Batu, thus giving space for 974 at Bt Panjang!
Agreed, 176 should be extended to Gali Batu
If that’s the case, why is it not happening when Jurong East Bus Int opens last year? they can amend the buses when the pandemic ends, meaning that all buses will end at bef Jurong East Stn bus stop and start at Blk 134 which is the same as the current bus 78 route. If the reason is not about the pandemic, I hope they should allowed boarding and alighting.
What the use of having the berths when both alighting and boarding not allowed? 🙄
From the looks of it, it isn’t really an opening of Gali Batu bus terminal since article mentioned tt the terminal premise has already been opened earlier for bus storage and swab test. This event is more appropriately named as “route amendment due to closure of existing bus park.”
23/1/2021 with only 75 & 184.974 loops at BPJ instead..Getting weird this LTA scholars