THE BIG SQUEEZE

School traffic congestion in Bukit Timah more manageable, but long queues of cars remain

The traffic situation outside some schools in Bukit Timah has improved slightly, a few years after measures were introduced in 2020 to keep peak hour congestion manageable.

These include staggering reporting times of schools in the area, and converting Hillcrest Road, where Raffles Girls' Primary School (RGPS) is located, into a one-way street from 1pm to 2pm during school dismissal.

Traffic during arrival and dismissal times at RGPS has been a perennial problem for many years due to the school's proximity to Dunearn Road, which is a main road that is used to get to other schools in the area, like Nanyang Girls' High School and National Junior College.

Parents would need to turn into Hillcrest Road - a two-way road consisting of single lanes from Dunearn Road in order to enter the school's compound.

Although the dismissal time at RGPS is 1.20pm, parents are allowed to drive in to pick up their children only at 1.40pm.

In an advisory notice sent to parents in June 2023, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that it will not allow vehicles to wait along Dunearn Road and Hillcrest Road ahead of time before the school gate opens at 1.40pm.

Ms Ang Kai Shin, a grassroots volunteer who leads the traffic task force in Bukit Timah, said that regular enforcement was needed to help motorists keep to the arrangement of Hillcrest Road being a oneway street.

"The school also needed help to discourage cars from picking up and dropping off students along the road, as well as parking obstructively, which were dangerous practices and also exacerbated the congestion," said Ms Ang.

In 2021, LTA added another zebra crossing along Hillcrest Road and some safety features at a crossing near the bus stop at Tan Kah Kee MRT station.

Still, parents continue to wait along Dunearn Road as early as 1.10pm to pick their children up, according to checks by The Sunday Times in the second week of January.