RTS Link Commute Times from JB to Singapore Offices

MRT train crossing a bridge over a green park in Singapore — An MRT train in Singapore. Photo: Manh Hung Ngo on Unsplash

At a glance

Bukit Chagar to Woodlands North TEL platform: About 25 minutes (our assumption, normal queues)
RTS ride: About 5 minutes
Orchard: About 60 minutes from Bukit Chagar, no change of train after the RTS
CBD (Maxwell, Shenton Way, Marina Bay): About 70 to 75 minutes
Changi Business Park / Changi Airport: About 95 to 100 minutes, three changes
Status: Estimates until the line opens in February 2027

How long the commute will take

From Bukit Chagar station, we estimate about 60 minutes to Orchard, 70 to 75 minutes to the CBD stations on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), about 80 minutes to Raffles Place, and 95 to 100 minutes to the Changi end of the island. The RTS ride itself is about five minutes. Most of the time goes on immigration and the MRT ride south from Woodlands North.

These are estimates. The RTS opens in February 2027 and no one has timed a real peak-hour trip yet. We will replace these figures with our own timed journeys once it runs.

Door-to-door table from Bukit Chagar

Times run from the Bukit Chagar station entrance to a typical office near the destination station. They do not include your walk from home to Bukit Chagar.

Destination	MRT station	Route after Woodlands North	Train time (est.)	Bukit Chagar to destination (est.)
Woodlands (Causeway Point, Civic Centre)	Woodlands	TEL, 1 stop	2 min	About 30 min
Jurong East	Jurong East	TEL to Woodlands, NSL 7 stops	24 min	About 55 min
Ang Mo Kio	Ang Mo Kio	TEL to Woodlands, NSL 7 stops	24 min	About 55 min
Bishan	Bishan	TEL to Woodlands, NSL 8 stops	27 min	About 55 min
Orchard	Orchard	TEL, 12 stops, no change	29 min	About 60 min
Novena	Novena	TEL to Woodlands, NSL 11 stops	34 min	About 65 min
Outram Park (SGH)	Outram Park	TEL, 15 stops, no change	36 min	About 65 min
one-north	one-north	TEL to Caldecott, CCL 5 stops	36 min	About 65 min
Tanjong Pagar	Maxwell	TEL, 16 stops, no change	38 min	About 70 min
Shenton Way	Shenton Way	TEL, 17 stops, no change	41 min	About 70 min
Marina Bay (MBFC)	Marina Bay	TEL, 18 stops, no change	43 min	About 75 min
Paya Lebar	Paya Lebar	TEL to Caldecott, CCL 8 stops	43 min	About 75 min
Gardens by the Bay	Gardens by the Bay	TEL, 19 stops, no change	45 min	About 75 min
Mapletree Business City	Labrador Park	TEL to Caldecott, CCL 9 stops	46 min	About 75 min
Raffles Place	Raffles Place	TEL to Woodlands, NSL 17 stops	48 min	About 80 min
Marine Parade	Marine Parade	TEL, 23 stops, no change	55 min	About 85 min
Tampines	Tampines	TEL, CCL to MacPherson, DTL 6 stops	60 min	About 90 min
Changi Business Park	Expo	TEL, CCL to Paya Lebar, EWL to Tanah Merah, 1 stop	65 min	About 95 min
Changi Airport	Changi Airport	As above, 2 stops from Tanah Merah	68 min	About 100 min

For Raffles Place, you can also stay on the TEL to Shenton Way (41 minutes) and walk north. Whether that beats changing to the North South Line depends on which end of Raffles Place your office is.

How we built these estimates

Each total is three parts added together, then rounded to the nearest five minutes.

Bukit Chagar entrance to the TEL platform at Woodlands North: 25 minutes. We allow about 15 minutes for security, the e-gates and both countries’ immigration with normal queues, 5 minutes for the RTS ride, and 5 minutes to walk from the RTS station to the TEL platform and catch a train. The 100 e-gates at Bukit Chagar take about seven seconds per person, but the queue in front of them is unknown until the line opens.
MRT time: 2.4 minutes per stop, plus 5 minutes for each change of line. We set 2.4 minutes per stop from the one published TEL figure we found for a whole run: about 45 minutes from Woodlands North to Gardens by the Bay, which is 19 stops. The same rate gives about 26 minutes from Woodlands to Orchard, close to EdgeProp’s 30 minutes and LTA’s 35 minutes for that trip.
Walk from the destination station to the office: 5 minutes.

Stop counts follow the current TEL station order, which skips Mount Pleasant and Marina South because they have not opened.

How these compare with journey planners

Online journey planners give longer MRT times for some trips because they build in longer waits and walks. Rome2rio, for example, lists 47 minutes from Woodlands North to Orchard and about 52 minutes to Raffles Place, against our 29 and 48. For trips to Bishan and Jurong East it agrees with us more closely, at 26 to 31 minutes and 22 to 27 minutes.

Treat our table as a smooth peak-hour run. If you need to be at your desk at 9am, leave 15 minutes of slack until you have done the trip a few times yourself.

Which offices suit a Bukit Chagar commute best

Offices on the TEL are the easy ones, because after the RTS you stay on one train. That covers Orchard, Outram Park and the hospital cluster at SGH, Maxwell and Tanjong Pagar, Shenton Way, Marina Bay and the East Coast. Woodlands itself is one stop away.

Offices in the east, such as Changi Business Park, Tampines and the airport, need three trains after the RTS and push a one-way trip towards 100 minutes. For those, the RTS still beats the Causeway bus on reliability, but you are better off living as close to Bukit Chagar as possible to keep the total down.

What we will update after opening

Once the RTS runs, we will time real trips at 7.30am on a weekday to five or six of these destinations and publish the results next to the estimates. We will also add the walking time from the main condos to the Bukit Chagar entrance, which our condos near Bukit Chagar page will carry. For the cost side of the same commute, see RTS Link fares and monthly costs, and for the Singapore end of the trip, Woodlands North RTS station.

Common questions

How long does it take from Bukit Chagar to the Singapore CBD on the RTS?

We estimate about 70 to 75 minutes from Bukit Chagar station to Maxwell, Shenton Way or Marina Bay, and about 80 minutes to Raffles Place. That assumes 25 minutes from the Bukit Chagar entrance to the Thomson-East Coast Line platform at Woodlands North, then the TEL into the city.

Why do you assume 25 minutes for the RTS part when the ride is only 5 minutes?

You also clear security and both countries' immigration at Bukit Chagar, then walk from the RTS station to the TEL platform at Woodlands North and wait for a train. We allow about 15 minutes for the checks with normal queues, 5 for the ride and 5 for the transfer. Opening-week queues could be longer.

Which Singapore offices are easiest to reach from the RTS?

Anything on the Thomson-East Coast Line, because there is no change of train after Woodlands North: Orchard, Outram Park, Maxwell, Shenton Way, Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay and the East Coast stations.

Is the RTS faster than the bus across the Causeway?

On most days it should be more predictable. Bus commutes from central JB are commonly quoted at 1.5 to 2.5 hours each way because of Causeway queues, while the RTS ride is a fixed five minutes. The immigration queue is the part nobody can predict until the line opens.

Does the table include the walk from my condo to Bukit Chagar?

No. Add your own walk from the lobby to the station entrance. Our condo comparison lists published distances, and we will add timed walks once the station exits open.

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Sources

Facts on this page were checked against these sources on 12 October 2026.