Bishan New Town

Bishan New Town is public housing estate in the approximate geographic centre of Singapore. Bounded by Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1, the Central Expressway, Braddell Road, and along the west of private housing off Upper Thomson Road to Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1. Its main transport arteries into the city are the Bishan MRT station, and the Central Expressway.

Housing

The town is a mixture of three, four and five room HDB flats. The majority of the flats are four room-ed, with a few being five and three. Block numbers starting with 1 as the first digit, are generally smaller and more connected with the town center. Blocks numbers with 2 as the first digit, are more spread out and generally larger in size. However, even blocks numbers starting with 2 are further categorized;25_ tend to be the largest flats in the whole estate, with flat sizes ranging from 1650sq feet to 1700sq feet, one of the largest HDB flats in Singapore. Other numbers tend to be smaller and are usually from 1300sy feet to 1500sq feet.

Legends and Popularity

Built above what used to be a cemetery, there were initial fears that the Bishan HDB flats would face poor occupancy as cemeteries bode bad fengshui. This proved to be false, however, and Bishan became one of the most popular towns when newly built. Today, HDB flats in Bishan are priced above-average because of the town's accessibility.

As is with Serangoon New Town, it was built in an area with a large extent of pre-existing private housing, resulting in a disjointed town layout. The oldest public housing blocks were located around Sin Ming as housing for the surrounding industrial estate. When the area was designated as a new town, the main housing area was build in the vicinity of Bishan MRT Station, with neighbourhoods built in Bishan North and Shunfu. Newer blocks were also built in Sin Ming, while the old blocks were refurbished.

Transport system

The town is well connected to other towns and places in Singapore such as Pasir Ris New Town, Toa Payoh New Town, Yio Chu Kang, East Coast, Hougang New Town, Buona Vista and the city area by bus. The primary buses that ply between Bishan Bus Interchange and other towns are 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 59. Feeder service 410 serves Bishan New Town, with buses plying both directions on the same route. Other bus services which run through the town include 13, 74, 88, 93, 156, 157, 163, 162, 851 and 852There is also a train station (Bishan MRT Station), which is situated on the North-South line and connects the town and the city in a matter of 20 minutes or less.