Certain Areas of Chinatown Might be Locked Down Due to CNY Crowds

By
Chew Ming Hui
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How will you be celebrating this Chinese New Year? After all, it’s the first in a while where you don’t have to hide your relatives’ shoes anymore.

If you’re looking to head to Chinatown to soak up the Chinese New Year spirit, we’ve got some news for you.

Certain parts of Chinatown will be closed due to expectations of large crowds. Here’s what you need to know.

Closure of Certain Areas in Chinatown during Chinese New Year

Looking to impress your relatives by bringing them down to Chinatown? After all, the Chinese New Year Bazaar, finally making its return from 1 January to 21 January after a two-year hiatus, is quite the sight to behold.

Well, you should know that one street, Temple Street will, unfortunately, be closed to vehicular traffic. Other areas, if too crowded, might be locked down as well.

On Thursday (12 Jan), the Singapore Police Force shared that during the period of the Chinese New Year Bazaar, Temple Street will be closed to vehicular traffic during the following periods:

  1. Mondays to Thursdays, 3pm to 11pm
  2. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm to 12am
  3. 21 January, 10am to 2am (the following day)

The only way you’re getting a car ride through Temple Street is either to rob 7-11 or to get a heart attack. Unless you’re driving an emergency vehicle or a police car, you won’t be able to access the road.

Personnel to be Deployed to Ensure the Safety of the Public in Chinatown

That’s not all.

Similar to last New Year’s Eve, police officers, auxiliary police officers and security officers will also be deployed in the Chinatown area to keep you and your families safe this Chinese New Year.

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However, it would be best to keep your belongings close to yourself. We don’t want to have your bag containing stacks and stacks of ang paos pickpocketed now, do we?

If you’re heading to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year bazaar by MRT (although we recommend driving to impress your relatives), you should consider alighting at Maxwell MRT station instead of Chinatown MRT station.

Chinatown MRT station is expected to be crowded throughout the Chinese New Year period, and spending 10 minutes just trying to squeeze your way out of the MRT station isn’t all that fun.

Real-time Crowd Updates on Crowd@Chinatown Digital Map

Need something even better up your sleeves to impress your relatives and get a bigger ang pao?

If you’re visiting Chinatown between 13 to 15 January and 20 to 21 January, you can check out the Crowd@Chinatown digital map to ensure you aren’t leading your relatives straight into a sea of people.

Crowd conditions will be updated on the map in real-time and can be accessed on both computers and mobile devices from 6pm on the dates above.

Sounds familiar? That’s because a similar digital map was created to manage crowds last Christmas. Perhaps technology isn’t that bad after all.

As we gather to eat our reunion dinners and catch up with our relatives, let us not forget to stay safe this Chinese New Year. If you see anything suspicious, do contact the relevant authorities or install the SGSecure App to provide information to the authorities.

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Featured Image: GTS Productions / Shutterstock.com

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Chew Ming Hui
Email: [email protected]