Walk From Malaysia To Singapore & Vice Versa

Nearly 300000 People Do It Daily

Human & Vehicle Traffic Throng The Causeway - GoogleImages

I salute the thousands who brave the heat and bureacracy just to make the crossing each day to put food on the table for their family.  Reminds us to count our blessings and not to take life or our loved ones for granted.  Kudos to all of these folks.  As reported by Star Asia News, an average of 295,731 people use the two land crossings between Malaysia and Singapore daily - namely the newer Tuas Second Link and the very old Woodlands Causeway, the latter of which had been a bone of contention between the two countries over the issue of replacing the causeway with a new one or not.

Maddening Vehicle & Human Jam On Woodlands Causeway
TodayOnline

State Tourism, Trade and Consumerism Committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said Immigration Department records showed that some 107.9 million people used the Johor Causeway and Second Link last year - that has to one of the busiest in the world, after other heavy cross country customs like Shen Zhen and Hong Kong.  What so shocking is that the nearly 108million is purely human traffic - not in the count are human traffic packed in cars, vans, lorries, buses and on motorcycles.  It is no wonder observers are labelling both crossings as among the busiest in the world, and badly in need of government intervention and policy changes to overcome congestion at both links.

God Bless The Crowd Who Has To Wait For Hours Sometimes - GoogleImages

Among the steps was beefing up the Immigration Department with another 468 personnel by June this year to man the counters in both places, as previously highlighted in my post on the Sultan of Johor, who is the current King of Malaysia, weighing in on this congestion issue.
After the Sultan raised his concerns on the bad jams affecting commuters, Malaysia customs came on the news announcing they are ensuring that all 351 booths are manned, especially during peak hours, a feat achieved after a freeze on leave by immigration personnel.
Apparently the state government hoped to increase the frequency of the train service to Singapore and have additional bus services from Iskandar Puteri to Boon Lay and Jurong East on the island republic. There were also plans to have more direct flights from Senai International Airport so that locals would not need to travel to Singapore to take flights.
It was also suggested that the police could set up a mobile station on the Causeway, and later at the Second Link, to monitor and control the traffic.  Another suggestion was that the Federal Government would allow tourists in tour buses to enter the country without having to bring down their luggage to aid in faster customs clearance.
Let's keep our fingers crossed on the Singapore-Malaysia government retreat next month, during which this congestion issue will be raised in a cross-straits effort find an effective solution.
Meanwhile, Be Patient when you come Jalan Jalan in JB.