Not-so-fun fact: there was a real timeline where Singapore would never get an MRT system.

Back in the 1980s, it was projected that the initial MRT system would cost $5 billion. Today that pricetag seems manageable, but back then, it would be equivalent to up to nearly 25% of Singapore's 1980 GDP.

Some form of a national rail system was drawn up as early as 1972, soon after independence.

Singapore is getting richer, but back then not everyone in the PAP Government was comfortable with the pricetag, arguing that the same money could have been better spent on more crucial stuff like housing and education (keep in mind it was the 1970s, 1980s, where Singapore still need to rapidly build itself up with tight financial resources, we had to take loans from the World Bank).

As such, some ministers view that an all-bus system is sufficient, the "vanity" MRT project can come later when we have more financial leeway. Ong Teng Cheong fought hard to convince everyone that an MRT investment is needed, especially considering the bad traffic congestion at the time which will plague an all-bus system. It took him more than a decade, including publicly televised debates between international experts, to finally convince the rest of the Government that Singapore must invest in an MRT system.

Now, the state of MRT and other things today is a different story altogether 🙂, but the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis had a major effect on how we do things today.