Our story

Why I built a talking MRT map for my son

For a three-year-old who looks forward to every MRT ride

Hi, I'm Kavya. My son is 3 now (as of 2026), and the Singapore MRT is his whole world!

He listens for the chime, waits for the lady to say the name of the next station, and says it right along with her. I wanted to give him a way to hear those announcements at home, whenever he likes.

CC Where it started

Every week we took the train from Botanic Gardens to Holland Village for his toddler class. It's only two stops on the Circle Line, but for him it was the best part of the day: the doors closing, the chime, "Farrer Road", and then "Holland Village". The Circle Line is officially orange, but in our house it will always be the yellow line, and it is his absolute favourite.

3 An MRT-themed birthday

So of course, when he turned three, the party had to be MRT-themed. We made our own map on the wall with coloured tape, with station signs for the places that matter to him and photos of him at each one. There was a fare gate with a big green button to press. The kitchen had an SMRT train drawing, and instead of the usual "no eating or drinking" signs, ours said please eat and drink.

An MRT map made of coloured tape on a grey wall, with station signs for Bukit Panjang, Cashew, Beauty World, Botanic Gardens, Farrer Road and Holland Village, and small photos next to each station
Our tape-and-paper MRT map, with his stations and the photos from each one (faces blurred).
A printed photo of MRT fare gates on the wall, with a big green 'Press me' button next to it
The party entrance: tap in with the big green button.
MRT-style signs saying Please Eat and Drink, Dance and Play, Make Memories and Enjoy the Party
Our take on the MRT's famous signs.
A colourful drawing of an SMRT train on its tracks, with a sun, flowers, butterflies and bees
An SMRT train, drawn for the party, in the sunshine with flowers and bees.

▶ Why this website

After the party, he wanted the announcements every day. So I built him a map he can use himself on the iPad. He taps a station, hears it announced, and then hears the doors close, just like on the train. He can pinch to zoom in on his favourite parts of the network, and tap a line colour to follow just that line.

The stations on our route have real announcements that I recorded on board and cleaned up so the train noise doesn't drown them out. Every other station uses a voice that I tuned to sound as close to the announcer as I could get, with the pronunciation of every name checked by ear.

The map is redrawn by hand from the official system map, in a reconstruction of the typeface used on Singapore's transport signs. I built it with a lot of help from an AI coding assistant (thanks Claude, you're da best!), one station at a time.

♥ For other little MRT fans

If your child loves the MRT as much as mine does (or you love it, don't be shy!), I hope this makes them smile. A few tips for using it on an iPad:

  1. Turn the sound up, and tap Let's ride to start. iPads only allow sound after a first tap.
  2. Add it to the Home Screen (Share button, then Add to Home Screen). It then opens full-screen like an app.
  3. Turn on Guided Access (Settings, then Accessibility) if you'd like little hands to stay on the map.

Ready to ride?

143 stations, six lines, and a lot of doors closing.

Open the map

Say hello

I'd love to hear from other MRT-loving families, or about a station that doesn't sound right.

LinkedIn @kavyaj93

A note on the sounds

This is an unofficial fan project made for my son, and it isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the Land Transport Authority, SMRT or SBS Transit.

The chime, the door-closing sound and the station announcements recorded on board belong to their operators. They're used here non-commercially, only to bring a little joy to young train fans. If you own these sounds and would like anything changed or removed, please get in touch and I'll take care of it straight away.