The Katong Bedok Bus at Bedok Road of old

Many stories and posts about old buses and old bus tickets abound in nostalgic Singapore pages and groups on social media today. Our Bedok kampong house story has a slightly different twist as we are fortunate to find a nice photo (thanks to the National Archives & National Library Board, with permission) of a typical bus we used to take from Bedok to Katong (mostly) in the 60’s – the Katong Bedok Bus! And it matches with our old collection of bus tickets (a selection shown here). 

Those days of the pull-down windows (usually hard to budge!), no air-conditioning and with the wind blowing into our faces! We recall that wonderful bus stopping bell with the ‘Push Once’ engraved words encircling a red button and sometimes we get to pull down a horizontal cable that goes across the seats by the window to signal to the bus driver (and conductor) to stop!  

The amazing thing is that the location of the bus stops of those old days are basically still here at Bedok Road, now replaced by their modern counterparts but not moved at all (especially the one where Cold Storage is now at). 

What is so special about this great photo (below) is that it was photographed at Bedok corner itself at the then bus terminus located just outside the Bedok Rest House. You can also see the old British war pillboxes and a street hawker in that same photo too! And our Bedok kampong house is just behind the rest house. If any reader has other memories of taking this bus at Bedok, please share your stories too!

See Bedok Rest House to the left, and Bedok corner street hawker, old British pillboxes and the Bedok Beach to the right.(Reproduced with permission from National Archives Singapore/ National Library Board) 

A selection of old bus tickets from our personal collection to share