MCMDad

HI geedee, yes I have 2 kids at the school.

I spoke to one of the staff at the border yesterday. It is definitely the new computer system which he proudly said was more thorough. It seems that motorbikes are becoming much slower to process. I came back from Singapore into Malaysia last night at about 9:30 and there was no queue for cars, but motorbikes were backed halfway down the ramp and they were having to have security staff there to keep them out of the (single) car lane.

I have no doubt that this situation will have to improve by them either hiring new staff, getting existing staff better trained on the new system or reverting to the old system. The companies in Tuas and Jurong who rely on Malaysian commuters to run their power stations and refineries will be going nuts to the government about this.

geedee

Hi MCMDad.... yes, you're right!
I left the house this morning at 0700, still using my trusted taxi service (but picking the bike up today). Arrived at work (CBD) at....0915. The line to get to Singapore was 2Km long.
It's getting heated.... this morning someone got out of his Singapore car and had a real go at one of the border guards. It was all in Chinese but my driver said the equivalent of the "F" word was used a lot!
I asked the guy who did our passports what was going on and he said it was a new system and we should complain to the senior officers!!
The Singapore side also had plenty of unmanned booths... I think there's a shortage of people too.
It's a far cry from the efficiency Singapore boasts.... and not a peep in the media!!
I don't know how long I can carry on doing this....

bakedbean

Well, good that you guys are piping up on here.

geedee

I wrote a snot-o-gram to the LTA this afternoon. Got an efficient "auto response" back....

Left work at 3pm today, no line up. Border Officer again confirmed it's all down to the new software... also said nothing is being done to modify it.

The Iskandar dream could be dead in the water soon! I wonder if it's some sneaky reprisal for the property tax??? Nobody is going to put up with this for long, that's for sure.

Singmom

Have things gotten better? I checked webcam and didn't see too much traffic on the bridge today... Hope it's getting better as our move to Nusajaya is around the corner...

geedee

Not really sure as I've been leaving home at 0500 and coming back at 1500!
I did ask a guard when they were going to fix it and he said they were working on it.

Bocat, any updates from your end?

Bocat

I had another 1.5 hour journey to work on Tuesday. Slightly better on the way home but that's because I'd gone to meet a friend after work so didn't get in the queue til almost 8pm. Even at that time it still took 40 minutes just to get through Sing Immigration.

I was off sick on Wednesday but apparently the queue was right back to the Malaysian border!

I was dreading Thursday morning after I heard that but there no queue whatsoever on Thursday morning! Back to normal - whizzed over the bridge and through Immigration in no time at all. Very bizarre. It was like someone had just flicked a switch to make it all better!!

I took the kids over yesterday as they had the day off school and it was busy both ways but then it was a Malaysian public holiday so that was to be expected.

Tune in for next week's exciting instalment of "Crossing the Border - How to Keep Your Sanity"!!

geedee

Thanks Bocat.... we went into S'pore yesterday too (left at 0900, returned at 1530) and there were small queues, but at least they were moving quickly. No sign of mega-bike line either.... fingers crossed for next week, although I'll still be leaving at 0500 until I hear some good reports!

Bocat

I'm not working til Wednesday so hopefully I'll hear from some others what it's been like around the time I leave at 8am.

There are updates on the Leisure Farm FB page about it too - not sure if you're on there.

geedee

No, we're not on that.... asked to sign up for the newsletter but heard nothing. Probably because we're renting, not buying!

You might want to keep an eye out here (if I posted before, apologies):

http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publis...ras0/tuas.html

geedee

Yes, just looked.... looks like it used to, i.e. handful of bikes and nothing else! Hoorah!

I got another reply from LTA today saying my query needs more time!

geedee

UPDATE:

Things are back to normal.

GOOD NEWS:
Border Guard told me things are fine now because they have gone back to using the old software..... processing took too long with the new software, he said.

BAD NEWS (possibly):
Border Guard also told me that this is only "temporary" and the new software would be re-introduced, but he wasn't sure when.

I expect that we will stay with the old system while they try and fix the new one... I just hope they do some testing first, before they use us a Guinea Pigs!

Singmom

Thank you for the update geedee.

That's good news... Hopefully they'll implement even faster system!

geedee

Hhmm.... going to keep an eye on the cameras tonight. Crossed back today at about 1600, on a bike, and it seemed much slower again! I asked the Guard if they were on the new software again and he said no..... fingers crossed...

Bocat

I got there at 5.30pm tonight and it was fine for bikes and cars. Same this morning at 8.30am - the only queue was the lorries and buses.