Recently, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that the Thomson East Coast Line Stage 1 (TEL1) will open in January next year, instead of by Christmas this year. It may be a 1 month delay, but over the past 7 years, the LTA has repeatedly promised (even earlier this year) that TEL1 will open by end-2019, and now they broke the 7-year-old promise without letting the public know what exactly happened that led to the delay.

LTA can't just walk away with a vague 1 sentence explanation ("delayed to allow more time for testing of the various systems of the line") because they have broke the commuters trust in the LTA. The public (especially Woodlands residents living near the TEL1 stations who have to bear with the construction of TEL1 since 2014) is interested to know what exactly prevented the TEL1 from opening by this Christmas and what caused the sudden delay. They do not want to be left in the dark on what exactly happened since they will be the ones who will be using the line for their commutes.

Worst of all, LTA also owe the public an apology on the delay. This is a matter of not just trust, but also accountability and transparency. (Update: Now that the opening TEL1 has been delayed further to 31 January 2019, instead of before Chinese New Year as mentioned by Khaw Boon Wan, we urge LTA to apologise and give the public a full detailed reasonable explanation ASAP by 31 December 2019, which is the original deadline for opening the TEL1 since the announcement of the stations.)

Please do not hesitate to sign this petition, share it to your family and friends (especially if they are living, working or studying in Woodlands) and get them to sign (and share) it too ASAP, so that the LTA will respond to the public regarding the delay sooner.