Travelling on the MRT on a wheelchair on 30 Nov 2012

Here we go again from Woodlands MRT station to Kent Ridge MRT station for Mikaail's medical appointment at NUH.  The ride was generally smooth and including the transfers, took us barely an hour.  Anyhow, I much prefer travelling on the MRT to a cab ride since I do not have to transfer Mikaail from a wheelchair into the taxi and taking him out of the taxi. 

The thing about travelling in the MRT on a wheelchair and having to transfer from one line to another requires a lot of walking as the lifts are usually at the far end of the station.  This is probably due to the lifts being fitted very much after the stations were built.

What we noticed when we get off from the MRT trains, unless you are a regular traveller, you would need to locate the lift signages as these signages were not strategically located.  So we ended walking from one end of the station to the other searching for the lifts!  A point to note is to leave home earlier with ample time for any unforeseen delays due to the additional walking time required due to a wheelchair user.

The Interchange stations are more complicated especially when transferring to and from the Circle Lines.  To get from Jurong East to Buona Vista is a breeze since the stations are on the same platform.  For a wheelchair user, it's a long walk and 2 lift changes to get from Buona Vista to Kent Ridge.

In total, we boarded the trains from the following stations, starting at 9:30 am.

1. Woodlands MRT
2. Jurong East MRT
3. Buona Vista MRT
4. Kent Ridge MRT

Then from NUH, to get to Plaza Singapura, we boarded the trains from

1. Kent Ridge MRT
2. Buona Vista MRT
3. Outram MRT
4. Dhoby Ghaut MRT

and from Plaza Singapura to home in Woodlands, it was a straight forward track.

1. Dhoby Ghaut MRT
2. Woodlands MRT