SINGAPORE \u2013 For transit enthusiast Vareck Ng, navigating Singapore means watching the ground as much as the signboards. <\/p>\n
Where others see worn patches of grass cutting across a field, the 23-year-old sees \u201cdesire paths\u201d \u2013 byways people have carved on their own where official routes are not the most convenient or intuitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is one of the most obvious signs that the community is responding to something that is built for them,\u201d the Tampines resident told The Straits Times in January.<\/p>\n
When he travels on public transport, Mr Ng, a musician, keeps his headphones off to help fellow passengers who are unsure which service to take or which exit to use.<\/p>\n
He sees these moments of hesitation and uncertainty as signs of gaps in the system, and feels compelled to fix them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I am at a bus stop, and I hear (the same question) multiple times; that is a sign that something can be done,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Since 2020, Mr Ng has been filling some of those gaps himself, putting up about 100 unofficial wayfinding signs across the island.<\/p>\n
His first was a simple A4 sheet of paper taped to a post along the park connector near Lorong Halus Red Bridge, pointing cyclists towards Pasir Ris, Punggol and Sengkang at a T-junction that had no directions.<\/p>\n
The 3km-long Lorong Halus Park Connector links Pasir Ris and Punggol, and runs through the Pasir Ris Farmway. <\/p>\n
If no one removes a sign and people find it useful, Mr Ng upgrades it \u2013 from plain paper to laminated sheets, and eventually to more durable plastic.<\/p>\n Unofficial wayfinding signs put up by Vareck Ng along the Tampines Park Connector near the bridge linking Tampines to Pasir Ris on Feb 16.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n His interest in wayfinding signs started the same year, in 2020, when Stage 1 of the Thomson-East Coast Line opened between Woodlands North and Woodlands South.<\/p>\n The new yellow exit signs, which focused on numbers over text, left him disoriented. <\/p>\n On older lines, he could choose an exit from the platform itself. But on the new system, he sometimes had to go up to the concourse to find out where each exit led. <\/p>\n \u201cThat is the thing that got me thinking about wayfinding. I am a transit fan, and if I can get lost in all these places, then what about someone who is not that into transit?\u201d he recalled thinking.<\/p>\n Such minimalist design should not come at the expense of clarity, Mr Ng said, giving the example of an expressway sign. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you are driving along the expressway and you have an exit sign that just says \u2018Exit 9\u2019, that will be so confusing for drivers. Yet it is done for public transport.\u201d <\/p>\n MRT signs, he argued, should similarly prioritise information in a clear hierarchy \u2013 first, transfers to other lines, then exits, and finally, facilities such as toilets. <\/p>\n He cycles regularly and uses those journeys as fieldwork. Cycling allows him to notice infrastructure or wayfinding issues that may not show up clearly on maps, he said. <\/p>\n Mr Ng put up many of his early signs in the west when he was studying at Nanyang Technological University, where some campus shuttle bus stops were little more than shelters without clear route information.<\/p>\n Self-taught in Photoshop, he likens good design to a chair \u2013 something you use instinctively, without having to think, adding that transit should be just as intuitive.<\/p>\n Mr Ng said he draws inspiration from cities such as Tokyo, where distinct platform melodies on the metro help passengers recognise where they are, and from grassroots activists in Jakarta who were eventually invited to help design their city\u2019s wayfinding system.<\/p>\n His guiding principle is whether the sign benefits the community. \u201cI always ask myself: Is it going to benefit people?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n He is a member of the Land Transport Authority\u2019s (LTA) Friends of Land Transport, a group of transport enthusiasts who provide regular feedback to the authority.<\/p>\n LTA officers have informally acknowledged his signs and expressed their appreciation, said Mr Ng.<\/p>\n He also said he is glad LTA is improving wayfinding. <\/p>\n<\/picture><\/div>