Why More Young Families Are Moving to Pasir Ris (Hint: It’s Not Just About the New EC)

This is actually a continuation from last week, when I mentioned Pasir Ris Northshore. While that’s one interesting part of Pasir Ris, I wanted to talk more about how this particular town has evolved tremendously, even though it’s often out of the limelight; and it’s particularly timely with the strong response to the upcoming Pasir Ris EC site.

If you had told me 10 years ago that Pasir Ris is a great spot, I would have assumed you meant Pasir Ris Beach and playgrounds. 

But other than that, I never really thought of it as anything beyond “the place at the end of the East-West Line.” But fast forward to 2025, and Pasir Ris is suddenly becoming one of the prime choices for younger families. This resurgence isn’t because of Northshore and the EC; that would be putting the cart before the horse. Rather, the interest in Northshore and the EC is because of the changes we’re seeing:

What’s changed in Pasir Ris over the past 10 years?

For me, these would be the major highlights:

For education and childcare:

• MOE Kindergarten @ Casuarina (opened 2024)
• MOE Kindergarten @ Elias Park (opening 2025)

These offer full-day childcare and a smooth transition into nearby primary schools, which is a significant advantage since it’s more common for both parents to be working these days.

• Coral Primary merged into White Sands Primary (2019)
• Coral Secondary merged with Siglap to form Meridian Secondary (2017)

I don’t know how the alumni feel about it, or if everyone is 100 per cent happy; but if you take a look at the schools now, with their newer facilities, better sports halls and classrooms, etc. I feel it’s an upgrade overall. 

• Overseas Family School (OFS) campus launch 

This will make Pasir Ris more inviting to expatriates and non-locals going forward; OFS has a gigantic five-hectare campus at Pasir Ris heights, which is enough for over 3,500 students. It does bring an international community presence to the estate.

• Metta School 2 (Opening 2028)

This is a new special needs school, located at the former Coral Primary site. This will allow the estate to cater to a wider range of families with different needs.

Food & Shopping:

(I used an “&” because in the Singaporean mind, they’re married concepts!)

• Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre 

Finally, I can’t believe it took until 2018 for Pasir Ris to have its own hawker centre! I wouldn’t say it’s a super big hawker centre, but it does have 42 stalls, and it’s Pasir Ris’ first and only hawker centre for now. At least it’s a start though, and a sign that the area is being better developed for families. 

• Pasir Ris Mall/Pasir Ris 8 

Pasir Ris 8 is an integrated project, and it comes with a four-storey mall (coined as Pasir Ris Mall). It also has a polyclinic and childcare centre, and it’s connected to Pasir Ris MRT (EWL, CRL) and is also the new bus interchange. 

• White Sands and Loyang Point Upgrades

These are the “old school” malls in Pasir Ris. White Sands underwent a major $40 million renovation from 2014 to 2016, for those of you who haven’t visited in a while; so it’s no longer the ageing mall you may have known. 

Meanwhile, Loyang Point, which is toward Pasir Ris West, also underwent a huge facelift and reopened in 2017; it now has a large Kinderland by the way, as well as new clinics, so you can see the family-angle really is a big deal in Pasir Ris. 

• The Downtown East expansion 

NTUC completed its “Refreshing Downtown East Project” in 2018, after a four-year upgrading plan. Wild Wild Wet was doubled in size in 2017, and I notice there’s more emphasis on play zones for younger children as well (e.g., the Kraken Racers, which is a four-lane slide safe for kids just 1.1 metres tall). 

There’s also the Tayo Station, which opened in 2018, which is a very big (10,000 sq ft) indoor playground with slides, obstacle courses, sensory play areas, etc. It’s specifically for kids aged one to 12. 

The upgrades also cover the E!Avenue and E!Hub, so there are more shops, more restaurants, etc. I can now safely say families in Pasir Ris can stay entertained within their own enclave for months and months, without any need to travel out.

• Park Connectors and Cycling Path upgrades

Pasir Ris was a sort of pilot programme for the “cycling towns” effort, so it has one of the highest numbers of dedicated cycling paths within the estate. 

Under LTA’s Islandwide Cycling Network expansion, even more paths are being built to link Pasir Ris to neighbouring towns by 2026, making it realistic for families to do car-free “park hopping” on bicycles. 

More recently, the Eastern Coastal Loop connection opened in 2024 (if you’re not a cyclist, this is part of the 18-kilometre Eastern Corridor, which is a big deal because it directly connects Pasir Ris Park to East Coast Park). 

I guess it’s because it was intended to be a cycling town, but I feel Pasir Ris has the best-planned cycling routes of almost all the HDB estates. For example, the cycling bridge over Pasir Ris Drive 1 lets you travel straight from the nearby blocks to Pasir Ris Town Park and the hawker centre, without ever needing to dismount. 

As a side benefit, joggers and stroller-pushing parents also benefit from the wider paths and car-light nature of Pasir Ris’ layout.

Transport Connectivity

Pasir Ris MRT is going to become an interchange, with access to the Cross Island Line (CRL) as well as the current East West Line (EWL). You can check out more details on the CRL here.

But to get to the important part: Pasir Ris will be the eastern terminus of the new CRL Phase 1, which runs fully underground across Singapore. When CRL Phase 1 opens around 2030 (hopefully), residents can travel directly from Pasir Ris to northeastern and central areas like Loyang, Hougang, and Ang Mo Kio much faster than today, and without switching trains. 

If you go from Ang Mo Kio to Pasir Ris right now, for example, it takes about an hour with the current transfers; but once the CRL is up, it’s expected to almost halve the time. The CRL will also connect to the future CRL Punggol Extension, but that’s later on in 2032.

In preparation, Pasir Ris MRT station is already being changed: the connecting point to Pasir Ris 8 will include a new air-conditioned station entrance and underground link to the CRL platforms. As a side benefit, it means there’s better covered access to the station already, for some nearby residents. 

Incidentally, roads have become better for drivers in Pasir Ris too

The completion of road upgrades on the TPE and Pasir Ris Drive 3 means there’s less congestion today, especially if your destination is Simei or Tampines. A new vehicular flyover at Loyang was also completed in 2017 to help separate industrial traffic from residential traffic heading into Pasir Ris, which also reduces morning congestion

If you combine this with the improved rail transport and cycling networks, you’ll realise mobility has really improved a lot in Pasir Ris over the past decade. 

So in 2025, it’s fair to say the Pasir Ris we knew isn’t the Pasir Ris we have today.

This is the best kind of improvement for neighbourhoods: rather than just one or two splashy projects, Pasir Ris’ upgrades have been more holistic and across-the-board, even if they’re not as loud as, say, Jurong East. 

While the new EC and Northshore buzz might’ve put Pasir Ris on the map recently, Pasir Ris didn’t just wake up one morning and become desirable. The government’s been quietly putting in the work for years, and now it’s starting to show. Pasir Ris is a good example of why HDB has abandoned its mature and non-mature classifications, as it shows that classification doesn’t make much sense anymore. 

Here’s hoping though, that Pasir Ris retains its laid-back family-oriented vibe, even as it becomes a bigger draw in the east.