Bus Enters Wrong Lane On Woodlands Causeway & Disrupts Traffic, Jam Cleared In 45 Mins

Bus Enters Wrong Lane For Motorcycles On Woodlands Causeway

UPDATE (26 Nov, 2.40pm): In response to queries from MS News, SBS Transit confirmed that a bus had ended up at the Woodlands Checkpoint and taken the wrong lane meant for motorcycles on Saturday (25 Nov) evening. The bus operator apologised to motorcyclists for the inconvenience caused. You may read their full statement below.

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Amid the almost-perpetual jams on the Woodlands Causeway, some cars might resort to using the bus lane to get ahead of the queue.

In an almost comical twist, however, a bus was the one entering the wrong lane in a recent incident at the Causeway.

The error resulted in the disruption of traffic flow for at least 45 minutes.

ICA says bus entered wrong lane on Causeway on 25 Nov

In a Facebook post on Saturday (25 Nov), the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) declared the disruption of car and motorcycle traffic as of 7pm that evening.

This was due to “an incident involving a public bus entering the wrong lane”, they explained.

They told motorists to expect delays and advised them to cooperate with on-site officers.

Bus in wrong lane for motorcycles on Causeway

Photos on the SG Road Vigilante Facebook page showed an SBS Transit electric bus with a green livery seemingly at a standstill in the left-most lane of the Causeway.

At least two officers were next to the bus, with one appearing to be interacting with the bus captain.

Another photo showed a number of motorcycles behind the bus. A sign above clearly showed that the lane was for “motorcycles only”.

A photo courtesy of a netizen meanwhile showed the other lanes seemingly free of vehicles.

Bus may have been part of BusTech Grand Challenge

Some Facebook users saw the funny side of the incident, with one pointing out that the bus ironically displayed a “Thank you for giving way” sign on its back window.

Another commenter wondered in Mandarin how the bus managed to enter the motorcycle lane, considering the supposed narrowness of the path.

An eagle-eyed netizen, however, identified the bus as “the bus from ITE West”.

The BusTech Grand Challenge and the inaugural RailTech Grand Challenge happened to occur that same afternoon at the ITE College West Campus in Choa Chu Kang.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the event involved bus and rail technicians from public transport operators, as well as students from Institutes of Higher Learning, taking part in a number of challenges in order to showcase their skills and creativity in solving land transport issues.

Transport-themed Facebook page (buses[IN]gapore!) claimed that the bus that entered the wrong lane on the Causeway was involved in the BusTech Grand Challenge.

The bus was supposed to return to Seletar Bus Depot but accidentally ended up at the Causeway, the page added.

In response to queries from MS News, an SBS Transit spokesperson confirmed that a bus had ended up at Woodlands Checkpoint on Saturday (25 Nov) evening. The spokesperson said,

Last evening, one of our off-service buses was headed towards the Seletar Bus Depot when the staff driving it missed the exit to the Seletar Expressway and continued along the Bukit Timah Expressway that led to the Woodlands Checkpoint. Unfortunately, he took the wrong lane meant for motorcycles and could not change course when he realised his mistake. We thank the ICA officers on the ground for helping our staff to manoeuvre his way out of the lane and deeply apologise to affected motorcyclists for the inconvenience caused.

Traffic disruption cleared up in 45 mins

Thankfully, the traffic disruption was cleared up in 45 minutes, ICA said.

In an update on Facebook, they said car and motorcycle traffic had resumed normalcy at 7.45pm.

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Featured image adapted from SG Road Vigilante on Facebook.