the mrt system only had two lines, the north south and east west lines, for more than ten years until the opening of the north east line in 2003. while plans for these lines, as well as those being built, were made long before, the land transport authority's (lta) proposal named "a world class land transport system" in 1996 showed that the government wanted to greatly expand on the existing system. the plans allow for the long-term replacement of the bus network by rail-based transportation as the main way of public transportation. it called for the expansion of the 67 kilometres of track in 1995 to over 360 in the year 2030. it was expected that daily ridership in 2030 would have grown to 6.0 million from the current 1.4 million passengers.