Joo Koon—Gul Circle Free Shuttle Bus Service

The Joo Koon—Gul Circle Shuttle Bus Service was a Rail Replacement Service plying between Joo Koon and Gul Circle.

The route was activated to operate daily, from 16 November 2017 to 26 May 2018, to support the partial suspension of East West Line services as a result of an accident caused by a signalling fault (see: Joo Koon train collision).

The Shuttle Bus Service serves the following MRT Stations:

• EW29 Joo Koon
• EW30 Gul Circle

Route:

Technical Information
Route	Joo Koon Circle (Joo Koon MRT) ↔ Tuas Road (Gul Circle MRT)
Travelling Time	10 – 15 mins
Operator Information
Operators	SMRT Buses Ltd SBS Transit Ltd Tower Transit Singapore Pte Ltd
Current Fleet	12-metre Double Decker Buses – Alexander Dennis Enviro500 – Volvo B9TL
Departure Times from Joo Koon	Daily during MRT Operating Hours
Departure Times from Gul Circle	Daily during MRT Operating Hours

In the wake of the Joo Koon train collision on 15 November 2017 that was attributed to a fault in the new signalling system, in the following days from 16 to 19 November 2017, train services from Joo Koon—Tuas Link were suspended, and free bridging bus services were provided between Joo Koon—Tuas Link.

To enable engineers to carry out further assurance checks on the new signalling system, train services between EW29 Joo Koon and EW30 Gul Circle were suspended from Monday, 20 November 2017 until further notice, to isolate the old signalling system-equipped section between Pasir Ris and Joo Koon from the new signalling system-equipped section between Joo Koon and Tuas Link, hence no longer requiring trains to switch signalling systems at Pioneer.

As a result, full-day bridging buses were deployed, initially between Joo Koon—Tuas Link from 16 to 19 November 2017, then between Joo Koon—Gul Circle from 20 November 2017 ‘until further notice’, when the entire EWL could be operated on the new signalling system. Bridging buses were not offered on Sundays between 29 April to 27 May 2018, as full-day trials of the New Signalling System were carried out and train services on the entire East West Line were available. The last day of operation for the bridging bus was 26 May 2018.

Operating arrangements

Shuttle Services were initially operated by Tower Transit and SBS Transit, with a minority of buses from SMRT Buses. Starting from December 2017, SMRT Buses became the anchor operator of the Shuttle Bus Service, running buses throughout the day and reflecting it as “JKGC” in bus timetables. SBS Transit & Tower Transit continued to run trips during Weekday peak hours to supplement the peak hour fleet.

The Free Shuttle Service did not operate on Sundays from 29 April to 27 May 2018 (inclusive of 06 May, 13 May & 20 May) during the East West Line CBTC Signalling Trials, as train service was available between Joo Koon and Gul Circle.

As weekday testing of the new signalling system on the East West Line commenced on 28 May 2018, the last day of operations for the free shuttle service was on Saturday, 26 May 2018.

Fare

Free Rides for all commuters. Commuters can also tap out of the train at Joo Koon and re-enter the train at Gul Circle (and vice versa) without incurring a transfer.

Gallery:

More photos on the next page…