Created for the agency that built and managed Singapore’s first mass rapid transit system. It was picked from a public competition that received 90 entries, and the winner Lawrence Wong won $10,000 for his design.

The logo's circle represents a MRT system that covers the whole island. The two bands are for the two main lines then, North-South and East-West. The bends reflect the fact that the trains rain on the ground, overhead and underground. These bands cut the circle at the centre to show that travel is by the shortest route.

In 2000, Singapore switched to a multi-modal public transport operator system and the state agency was corporatised into the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (SMRT). It adopted the logo as its new corporate symbol.