Sembawang Residents Face Longest Work Commutes at 50 Minutes

SingStat said almost half of employed Singapore residents work in the central region. People who live farther from these job centres naturally take longer to reach work. Based on the General Household Survey 2015, people living in seven of the 10 towns with the longest commutes in 2025 also had the longest median commute of 45 minutes. The three additional towns in 2025 are Bukit Batok, Jurong West, and Tengah, which were not on the previous list.

Those living in Bukit Merah, Bukit Timah, Clementi, Geylang, Kallang, Marine Parade, Novena, Outram, Queenstown and Toa Payoh had the next-shortest median commute at 30 minutes. People living in Bedok, Bishan and Serangoon also spent 30 minutes travelling to work in 2015.

Singapore-based urban transport researcher Paul Barter said most workplaces are located in the Downtown Core, central region and other areas such as Tuas and Pasir Panjang. He added that a larger proportion of high-income households are in areas such as Tanglin, Bukit Timah and Novena, which could mean more work trips made by cars, taxis or ride-hailing vehicles, which tend to be faster than public transport.

In 2025, 60.1 per cent of employed residents used public transport to get to work, up from 57.7 per cent in 2020. The share who combined rail and bus services rose from 26.4 per cent to 30.3 per cent, while the proportion relying solely on public buses fell from 15 per cent to 12.9 per cent. Those using rail only increased from 14.2 per cent to 15.8 per cent. Car-only commuters accounted for 21.2 per cent.

Bus-only commuting was most common among those living in Bukit Merah (20 per cent), Marine Parade (17.9 per cent), and Jurong East (17.1 per cent). SingStat noted that the opening of the fourth stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line in June 2024 prompted more people in Marine Parade to switch to rail services. The proportion relying solely on buses there consequently fell from 26.1 per cent in 2020 to 17.9 per cent in 2025.

The Land Transport Authority said it has been strengthening Singapore’s rail and bus networks while improving first-and-last-mile connections, especially for those who live farther from existing transport points. This includes developing new rail lines such as the Jurong Region and Cross Island MRT lines. Since the S$900 million Bus Connectivity Enhancement Programme was launched in July 2024, about 244,000 commuters, including those from Sembawang and Bukit Batok, have benefited from 35 new or extended services and more than 60 improved ones.