The interchange was first opened on 16 November 1980 by Chor Yeok Eng, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Member of Parliament for Bukit Timah. It was a long covered walkway structure with queue railings and berths at the side of the road, leading many people to call it a "roadside bus terminal" resembling the interchanges built in the 1970s. This is especially so as the interchange was very small and cramped, and floods sometimes when it was rainy. It was sort of similar to the original Bedok Bus Interchange.