Picture of Rails In Front of Bukit Timah Bus Stop Is An ‘Optical Illusion’

By
Zhi Hao
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We all know bus stops. They’re the thing located everywhere, always tempting us to tap on the “Grab” icon in our phone when the sun is merciless and the bus seems to be trapped in a 218 km jam.

But this: this picture might just convince you that it’s worth tapping on the “Grab” icon.

Until you’ve read this article, that is.

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Picture of Rails In Front of S’pore Bus Stop Is An ‘Optical Illusion’

But what exactly is it? How is it an optical illusion? Do rails in front of bus stops even make sense? And most importantly what’s for lunch?

Stay tuned, while we unearth you more info from the burrows of our office.

The Picture

For starters, let’s start off with the thing that kicked everything off: the picture.

So on 23 May, a Facebook user, whom we shall not name as she seemed to be misunderstood by others, posted a thought-provoking picture to Facebook, alongside an equally thought-provoking caption.

Image: Facebook User
Image: Facebook User

Good question You Shall Not Be Named, I would like to know the answer too.

Why on earth would rails be built in front of a bus stop? They could be built everywhere, from the back to the left to the right and maybe to the diagonally left 45 degrees. 

But why the front?

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The picture, as of now, has been Shared well over 2.6K times.

But wait, is there more than meets the eye?

After careful analysis and thorough research experiments, we’ve uncovered something outrageous, something amazing, something groundbreaking.

(Okay, actually we just spent five minutes to research, with a four-minute break inbetween)

There’s more than meets the eye. Like literally.

Let’s take a lot at the picture again, this time with a little help from Google Maps.

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Image: Google Maps

So after scrolling through Facebook comments- I mean professional advice, I realised that the bus bay might not be what we think it is. Or to be more specific, it might lie closer than we think. Yeah.

Now, if you’re wondering where the heck this place is, here’s the exact location.

Let’s look at the picture below for more reference.

Image: Google Maps

At first glance, one would presume that the bus stops in the red circle in the picture. But if you think about it, that doesn’t make any sense. Unless traffic regulations have been amended, it wouldn’t exactly be the most logical thing for a bus to block the entirety of a road with its, for lack of a better word, big ass.

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Instead, the black circle would make more sense, seeing how it stops short of the main road, and is where the rails do not obstruct.

Let’s look at it from another angle.

Image: Google Maps

Yeah, that makes sense. Although the entire placement of the bus stop is still weird if you ask me.

Come, let me draw for you with my professional Photoshop skills and you’ll understand.

Get it?

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People wait at one place, and the bus stops at another place due to space restraint. Railings are placed there so people won’t want to board at the waiting area (which is how 99.999999999% of bus stops in Singapore operate).

Flaming ensued

Having just solved one of the greatest mysteries in the world (notice me Buzzfeed Mystery Senpai), I can now call myself the greatest detective of all time. But rather unfortunately there seem to be a lot of greatest detectives of all time around.

But some were apparently not content with getting a big ego boost from solving it (like yours truly), seeing how the original uploader subsequently posted this:

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Wah, need to play so big until PM her and say how stupid she is?

Optical illusion or not…

We’ve reached the end of the article, and suffice it to say that each nook and cranny’s been thoroughly looked through and analysed. But there’s just one thing bothering me:

Why is the bus stop situated that way in the first place? Why not just put a notice? Or inform bus captains to stop in the bay and refuse to move up?

Image: Facebook

Now that would make sense.

It Might be Improved Soon

According to LTA in February 2018, there would be improvements around the area, scheduled for completion by 2020, though it’s unknown whether it’ll affect this unique bus stop.

MP Melvin Yong also posted an update about this project, and mentioned about two bus stops to be relocated.

Well, if it’s changed, we might just lose another Instagram-worthy place #ThisIsForTheInfluencers

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Now you know what Singaporeans are talking about today; do check back tomorrow for another piece of news of the day!

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Zhi Hao
Email: [email protected]