Jinrikisha Station begins operations

The Jinrikisha Station (also known as Jinricksha Station) is located at the junction of Tanjong Pagar Road and Neil Road in Kreta Ayer (Chinatown).^[1] The station was built in 1903 and began operations on 1 July 1904.^[2] At the time, it served as the main station for rickshaw services and the registration of rickshaws, which were once ubiquitous on Singapore’s streets.^[3]

The first rickshaws – small, lightweight, two-wheeled carts drawn by rickshaw pullers – were imported into Singapore from Shanghai in the early 1880s.^[4] By 1892, the Hackney Carriage Department had established a Jinrikisha Department to register, license and control the Singapore rickshaw population through the enactment of the Jinricksha Ordinance.^[5] By the 1900s, there were over 8,000 registered rickshaws manned by around 20,000 to 30,000 pullers working in shifts.^[6] After World War II, rickshaws were phased out and replaced by trishaws for short-distance transportation.^[7]

The Jinrikisha Station was designed by municipal architect David McLeod Craik.^[8] The colonial-style V-shaped double-storey building with its curved facade makes it an eye-catching landmark.^[9] The building was gazetted for conservation in 1987^[10] and put up for sale by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in 1988 as a multi-purpose building that could be used for retail, restaurants or offices.^[11] One of the conditionsof the sale was that the buyer had to restore important features of the building such as the exposed red brickwork, which had been painted white.^[12]

References
1. The land transport of Singapore: From early times to the present (p. 8) (1984). Singapore: Educational Publications Bureau for Archives and Oral History Department. Call no.: RSING 779.9388095957 LAN; Administration report of the Singapore Municipality for the year 1904 (p. 3). (1905). [Microfilm: NL 3406]. (Hackney Carriage and Jinrikisha Department). Singapore: Fraser & Neave.
2. The land transport of Singapore: From early times to the present, 1984, p. 8; Administration report of the Singapore Municipality for the year 1904, 1905, p. 8.
3. The land transport of Singapore: From early times to the present, 1984, pp. 8–9.
4. The land transport of Singapore: From early times to the present, 1984, p. 7; Tuesday, 8th November. (1881, November 12). Straits Times Overland Journal, p. 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Administration report of the Singapore Municipality for the year 1904, 1905, p. 19; The Municipal view of the Jinricksha question. (1892, February 16). Straits Times Weekly Issue, p. 2; Correspondence. (1892, August 31). Daily Advertiser, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
6. Administration report of the Singapore Municipality for the year 1919 (p. 1E). (1920). [Microfilm: NL 3410]. Singapore: Fraser & Neave; A passion for the nameless and faceless. (1986, November 3). The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
7. The land transport of Singapore: From early times to the present, 1984, p. 7.
8. Architect’s 36 years in Malaya. (1938, August 3). The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), p. 5, Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
9. Wee, A. (1988, November 18). Former rickshaw station at Tanjong Pagar up for sale. The Straits Times, p. 16. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
10. Aleshire, I. (1987, February 6). Tg Pagar plans unveiled. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
11. Wee, 18 Nov 1988, p. 16.
12. Wee, 18 Nov 1988, p. 16.