About 60 commuters were locked out of Bugis MRT station this
morning, even after the first train arrived at the station.
The main gates to the underground station were still locked when
52-year-old hawker George Lim arrived at about 5.45 am this
morning. The first train arrived at around 6am, and by then, a
crowd of about 60 had gathered and were knocking on the doors,
hoping to alert the station staff.
Said George: "We could see that the staff were in the station
control, but he wasn't moving and we initially thought that he had
fainted."
But they soon realised that he had been sleeping, when passengers
from the first train managed to wake him up from his slumber.
According to George, this is not the first time that it's happened.
He said: "I think it's happened about five times already," said
George, who takes the first train almost everyday.
"People on their way to work might be delayed, especially workers
taking the MRT to transfer to Jurong Island," he added.
STOMP contacted SMRT for comment, and this is their response:
"We regret the inconvenience caused to passengers due to the delay
in the opening of Bugis Station this morning.
Following the incident, we conducted investigations immediately.
The station was scheduled for opening at 5.40am, 10 minutes before
the arrival of the first westbound train at 5.52am. Our
Station Manager on duty had followed the necessary procedures to
prepare for the opening of the station in the morning. After
preparations were made, he took a short rest at the Passenger
Service Centre as he was not feeling well. Unfortunately,
he missed the time to open the station. The station was
subsequently opened at about 5.55am.
We will counsel the staff concerned to prevent a similar
occurrence.
Once again, we apologise for the delay and the inconvenience
caused."
GG. 
Source: HWZ.
