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Many reports have surfaced recently about heavy traffic jams along the Causeway, especially over the September holidays.
My family of six had that unfortunate experience when we decided to travel during the ongoing holiday period.
We left our home in Fernvale at 8.30am and managed to clear both the Singapore and Johor Bahru (JB) customs only at 2.50pm — over six hours later.
During our commute, I observed several factors that I think made the delays inevitable.
The first is the lack of amenities. Since the wait was long, we ended up finishing all our snacks early in our journey.
We thus had to stop at the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building to use the toilet. There, we faced long queues which added to the waiting time.
Although ICA provided two mobile toilets nearby, one of them was badly soiled.
Therefore, to make commutes more pleasant for everyone, ICA should consider adding more mobile toilets, especially during peak periods.
Our next hurdle was on the way to the JB customs. We noticed two lanes merging into one, which worsened the congestion.
Upon reaching the Malaysian checkpoint, multiple red crosses greeted us, indicating that only four booths were in operation.
Evidently, there wasn’t enough manpower to usher the many vehicles and passengers through the checkpoints quickly.
After our experience, I’ve realised one thing — instead of just talking about reopening borders, Singaporean and Malaysian authorities should discuss their resource issues first.
With all checkpoints operating smoothly, I strongly believe the congestion will ease.
Rodiah
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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