THREE years after it started running in 2003, the North-East Line became profitable. And despite initial fears that few would use it, it now has the fastest-growing ridership of any public transport service today.

Currently, commuters from towns such as Sengkang, Hougang and Potong Pasir make about 380,000 rides a day on it - more than double the 156,000 seen in 2003.

On Monday, Transport Minister Raymond Lim singled it out as the reason that the north-east corridor of the island has bucked an island-wide dip in the market share of public transport.

In its first three years, the North-East Line experienced a ridership growth of 15-17per cent per annum. For the first-half of this year, the rail business yielded SBS Transit an operating profit of $10.4 million.

Some analysts had projected the line - a 16-station metro linking Punggol to HarbourFront - would lose up to $40million a year, while others had said the red ink would flow right into next year. One stock analyst remarked: "It was a line nobody wanted."

"We persevered," recalled Mr Gan Juay Kiat, executive director of SBS Transit, operator of the line.

"Tours were conducted for residents in the new and old parts of Punggol. Efforts were made to explain to residents that they had nothing to fear about a driverless train system, which was as safe, if not safer, than a manned one."

As a result of these efforts, average daily ridership started creeping upwards. But the real surge came between 2005 and last year when housing projects in Sengkang and Punggol, at the northern end of the line, came onstream.

"This led to a stronger growth in average daily ridership," Mr Gan said.

And more housing projects are springing up. This month, the Housing Board will release one in Sengkang. There is still more upside for growth in this northern outpost. Sengkang for example is only 60per cent developed.

The middle portion of the line - between Serangoon and Chinatown - has also seen a flurry of private developments from most big property developers. Next year, Serangoon's first mega-mall opens, right next to the Serangoon Interchange station.

Mr Gan is convinced that the housing pick-up was instrumental in turning around the fortunes of the line.

But there are those who still believe it was the other way round - having a working MRT line attracted residents to move into the townships - just as previous lines did for towns such as Yishun, Woodlands and Pasir Ris.

MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Charles Chong, who led the lobby to open Buangkok Station, said: "Once the infrastructure is up, more people move in. If you look at the build-to-order flats, those further away from the stations have far lower take-up rates."

Buangkok stayed closed for more than two years after the line was opened because ridership was deemed too low, leading residents to petition for its opening. Ridership is now around 7,000 a day - fourfold its initial number.

Mr Chong said the argument of "infrastructure first before population growth" holds true everywhere.

But whether the dog wags the tail or vice versa, the North-East Line is blazing a trail. To cater to the accelerated growth, SBS Transit has had to keep adding trains to the 15 it started with in 2003. It had 18 by May 2006. Today, 21 trains ply the morning peak hours.

But riders say intervals could be shortened further - from the 2.5 and 3.75 minutes they are now in the morning and evening, to the less than 2.5 minutes on the North-South and East-West lines.

"The NEL today is certainly a livelier line than it was six years ago," Mr Gan said. He predicts even greater ridership as more people move into the area and discover the convenience of riding the MRT.

"Certainly, I think the quick link that it offers residents, say 20 minutes from Punggol to Dhoby Ghaut, is very attractive."

Punggol resident Sam Chong agrees. He is one of hundreds of driver-converts who helped push public transport's share of trips in the north-east sector to 55per cent last year, from 52per cent in 2004.

"It's very convenient. My block is just a few minutes' walk to the LRT station, which is just two stations from the North-East Line," said the 47-year-old company chief executive who works in Chinatown. "The journey is fast. It's great if you want to read, although it can get a bit crowded in the morning."

Photographer Albert Chua, 43, said the line helped wean him of his car.

"It's quite convenient," said the Sengkang resident, whose workplace is in Waterloo Street. "I take it to Little India, and then take a short bus ride from there."

SBS Transit, part of transport giant ComfortDelGro Corp, is understood to be preparing to bid to operate future lines, starting with the Downtown Line, which will start running in stages from 2013.

Nomura Singapore research analyst Lisa Lee said the success of the North-East Line was "a big positive" in its bid for new lines.

That is quite a turnaround from the days when the rail business was seen as a liability which some senior executives in SBS Transit considered selling to rival SMRT.

christan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

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