S’pore-M’sia Land Travel To Resume After Authorities Resolve Minor Issues
Recently, Singapore and Malaysia announced a vaccinated travel lane (VTL) between the two countries that would begin on 29 Nov.
S’pore Launches VTL With M’sia’s KL Airport, Causeway Travel Coming Up Soon
However, the VTL only applied to air travel between Singapore’s Changi Aiport and Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
More recently, the Malaysian High Commissioner said the authorities are currently sorting out issues before resuming land travel between the 2 countries.
Issues such as health, testing regimes, and cross-border processes will need to be looked into further before reopening land travel.
Land travel more complex than VTL
According to The Straits Times (ST), Malaysian High Commissioner, Datuk Azfar Mohamad Mustafar says they’re currently ironing out issues related to land travel between the 2 countries.
He mentions that reopening the land border was a bit more complex than the VTL.
As a disclaimer, he also pointed out that travel between the two countries would not be like it was before the pandemic.
He states that the countries will have to start with a controlled opening — only a limited number of travellers are permitted between the 2 countries daily.
Initial opening will likely include only public transport
As it stands, the initial opening of land travel would only include public transport such as buses and trains.
Dr Azfar goes on to say that public transport would allow the authorities to better manage travellers. However, he did not confirm if this will indeed be the case.
He also assured residents on both ends of the Causeway that relations between the two countries remain strong and that both sets of authorities will iron out any minor issues.
Huge milestone for travel between 2 countries
The resumption of land travel between Singapore and Malaysia would mark a huge milestone in the fight against the pandemic.
While there were previous arrangements that allowed for travel between the two countries, there will be no need for quarantine if this land VTL were to happen.
Even if this comes to pass, we hope both countries will have contingency plans if cases start to ramp up exponentially.
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Featured image adapted from Lionel Lim on Flickr.
