Boon Lay Bus Interchange


Boon Lay Bus Interchange is an air-conditioned bus interchange located in Jurong West Central, in the western part of Singapore. It is situated within Jurong Point Shopping Mall and integrated with the nearby Boon Lay MRT station. This interchange serves a variety of passengers, including those from Nanyang Technological University, Jurong Industrial Estate and Tuas Industrial Estate. The interchange has been among the largest and busiest bus interchanges in Singapore, handling 31 services in the past until a few services were amended to the newer Joo Koon Bus Interchange in 2015.

History

Boon Lay Bus Interchange began operating on 1 July 1990 with services that used to terminate at the former Jurong Bus Interchange at Jurong Port Road and Jurong East Bus Interchange being re-routed to terminate there. That time, the Jurong West extension and Tuas Industrial area was still largely under development. As both areas are undergoing development, more bus services were introduced and by the early 2000s, there were about 30 bus services terminating at the interchange.
That time, there used to be an empty land beside the former interchange. In 2006, the land where the former interchange sits at and the land beside it was sold together as a 'White site' to Prime Point Development Pte. Ltd. and soon the land where the former interchange sits at was acquired to construct the Jurong Point Extension.
From 18 June 2006 to 26 December 2009, the interchange had it operations temporarily next to Boon Lay MRT station, at an empty plot of land surrounded by Boon Lay Way and Jurong West Street 64 while the bus interchange was being rebuilt as part of the Jurong Point extension project and this project consisted of the extension of Jurong Point,the new Boon Lay Bus Interchange and a 16-storey condominium that is known as 'The Centris'.
On 27 December 2009, the interchange moved back to its original location and all operations resumed at the re-constructed interchange located along Jurong West Central 3. Built over 20,000 square metres, it is Singapore's fourth air conditioned bus interchange and the first along the East West Line. In total, it has 60 bus bays and 31 boarding/alighting wheelchair accessible berths with 22 of them being end-on and 9 of them being sawtooth. Together with Boon Lay MRT station and Jurong Point, it is part of the Boon Lay Integrated Public Transport Hub.
With the opening of Joo Koon Bus Interchange on 21 November 2015, Services 182, 182M, 254, 255 and 257 were relocated to Joo Koon Bus Interchange. It reduced overcrowding at Boon Lay Bus Interchange. A further change was made on 18 June 2017 with the opening of Tuas West Extension, Services 256 and 258 were merged into service 258 and skipped the interchange.

Bus Contracting Model

Under the new bus contracting model, all the bus routes were split into 9 route packages -
79 under Bulim, 172 and 180 under Choa Chu Kang-Bukit Panjang, 178 and 187 under Woodlands, 30 under Bedok, 154 under Serangoon-Eunos, 157 is under Bishan-Toa Payoh, 174/e under Clementi, 198 under Bukit Merah and the rest are under Jurong West Bus Packages.