[RETAKE] Blk 534 Bedok North - Deathtrap 1980 AC-2 Fujitec Traction Elevator

Sadly, this lift is due for replacement soon. This lift is very scary (or perhaps I should say fun) to ride. It’s in such a bad condition that many residents avoid using this lift and choose to use the new EM lift to the right. This lift rattles on its way up and down, makes weird noises that are very loud when travelling, makes a loud bang around the 3rd floor that causes the lift to vibrate, and has a very harsh stop and start. This lift would shake quite a lot when stopping, especially on the first floor.

This lift was installed in 1980, received a cab interior refurbishment by Fujitec in 1995, and a slightly more heavy upgrade by EM services in 1999 or 2000 as part of the Interim Upgrading Programme. A technician I spoke to confirmed that this lift still uses the original motor (which was manufactured in 1979) and controller. However the controller had some minor modifications during the IUP refurbishment such as the addition of a circuit board to accommodate the new LED indicator.

Unfortunately, the same technician also confirmed with me that this lift here along with the old one left in Blk 535 are almost certainly the last old relay controlled HDB lifts left in Bedok, so ride this one while it lasts! The new EM Services Lift at Blk 534 has entered operation ahead of schedule, so the 2 remaining IUP refurbished lifts are going to be decommissioned pretty soon. I estimate that they would be shut down on 1 October 2021 though I could be wrong.

The probable reason why the old lifts survived until now is a combination of the block’s design and what happened to the 2 blocks during IUP. During IUP for lifts around this cluster, I noticed that lifts not on the stairwells were replaced by Dong Yang provided that they could be turned into all stop lifts without having to add any bridges to serve new floors. Those where new bridges are required to be built to convert the lifts to all stop had their existing lifts refurbished by EM Services, while those on the stairwells were replaced to alternate stop lifts by Dong Yang. I hypothesise that it is because adding new bridges would exceed the cost cap per benefiting unit, and as for the stairwell lifts replacing them to alternate stop, although it does not completely eliminate the problem of having to climb at least a flight of stairs to reach each residents units, would at least reduce the average number of steps the residents have to take to reach their flats. Since replacing the stairwell lift to alternate stop does not require the addition of bridges, it is likely that it did not exceed the cost cap per unit. Hence the town council decided to replace them to alternate stop instead of refurbishing it as it would make the lift more useful. Adding a new lift shaft outside for each block was out of the question as the lifts were to be upgraded under IUP which is offered to residents free and a has a lower budget for each unit, except for 2 blocks. Take a look at Blk 536, the stairwell lift was replaced into Dong Yang while the set of 2 lifts not on the stairwell was refurbished by EM Services as they could not be replaced into all stop lifts without adding bridges. However for Blk 534 and 535, each floor had significantly more units. While for those 2 blocks making the lifts all stop would require all of them to have new bridges added, Blk 535 which is not segmented had an additional all stop lift installed, while Blk 534 which had 2 segments had an additional Dong Yang installed in one of the segments. It is presumed that the HDB thought back then it was not feasible to add bridges to make the lift all stop, but since there were many more units in each section it must have been the case that adding an all stop lift would not exceed the cost cap per benefiting unit. It is not known why no additional all stop lift was added for the other segment of Blk 534. It might be due to technical constraints that I cannot see. Since one segment of Blk 534 did not have an all stop lift after IUP, the residents in that segment were offered LUP and the polling succeeded. By the time LUP was offered, it must have been that the town council deemed that adding new bridges to replacing one the existing lifts in that segment to all stop was deemed suitable, and so they did that instead of adding an additional lift. My guess is that it is very fortunate that an additional all stop Dong Yang was added, as if that was not the case all segments in both blocks would have gotten LUP, and in that case all 3 lifts in each lobby would have been replaced to all stop. The probable reason why only one lift in Blk 534’s segment without the Dong Yang was replaced was to make it fairer for all the residents, since after all the other segment with the Dong Yang only has one all stop lift. As such, these IUP refurbished lifts survived up till today. The other blocks had their IUP refurbished lifts replaced to all stop under LUP, or got walled off and removed (just like the stairwell lifts).