Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

Yesterday (Monday) and today were an absolute nightmare at the Tuas crossing, Singapore end, for some reason.

Went in at 0800, the traffic was backed up at least a kilometre (cars.... bikes shorter but took longer!). Took me 45 minutes to get through on my bike! It's normally pretty clear at that time.
Coming back was just as bad. Put it down to a busy Monday.
Coming back today (taxi... bike not suitable today!) it took one hour to get out of Singapore.... the traffic was chaos.

Weird thing is, all those cars getting out of Singapore have to go in to Malaysia. After struggling for an hour to get through the S'pore checkpoint, I was fearing the worst at Malaysia.... we were the third car in line when we got there!

Singaporeans will have you believe the cause of backed up traffic is Malaysian Immigration. That could not be further from the truth!

The REALLY odd thing is that about half the Malaysia booths were shut, and it looked like most of the Singapore ones were open.... anyone have any ideas???:confused:

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

I'm quite convinced there's some sort of Bermuda Triangle on that bridge!! That seems to happen a lot - and to be fair it happens both ways.

Don't know what was going on the last couple of days but it took me 2 hours to get to work today when it normally takes 45/50 minutes!! Not impressed!

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

I delayed return today until 8pm. Took a taxi (bike still in for service). Mega nightmare!! The traffic was backed up to the tunnel, at least 1km away, and hardly moving. Turns out the bikes were taking all lanes, forcing cars into one lane only.... oh, how lucky I was to be in a car today!! Only took 45 minutes.... the bike would have taken hours!

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

It was like that at 5.30pm and the bridge was horrendous again yesterday morning too (1.5 hours to work). I'm looking for a job here and hoping it comes off soon!!

I just don't understand why the traffic has been so bad this week.

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

Left 0800 this morning, straight to an empty booth on Malaysia side, straight into a jam starting 3 km from Singapore border. For some reason car lane again narrowed down to one, not because of bikes, but cones.... got to work at 0945..... this is nuts! And I cannot for the life of me figure out why....

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

Friend of mine told me there was something wrong with the Auto Pass reader at Tuas... some of them were broken or something like that, which is the cause of horrendous jam. Hopefully they will take care of it soon!

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

Thanks Singmom, that would make sense.... that or the passport scanner (although they only seem to take as long as normal doing that bit). Still in the office, just looked at the webcam and really not looking forward to getting home!

http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publis..._cameras0.html

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

1 hour 50 minutes..... left at 1830, got home 2020.... the bike tail back was horrific! Can't afford to do a taxi every day though....

Myvi, here I come!!

PS... just checked the tuas camera again, time 2225 and there are cars and bikes tailed back for as far as you can see. What on earth is going on????

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

Hi geedee,

I'm sorry to hear the traffic was so bad again... How long does it usually take you to get home?

We are moving to Nusajaya in one month time and will be commuting, too. I certainly hope things will improve soon!

I crossed Tuas Tuesday night myself and it wasn't too bad, maybe spent 30 minutes waiting. Magically at the Malaysian checkpoint, there was no queue. But I did hear from my friend that last night was really bad at Tuas and there was an issue with the card reader.

Let's hope things go back to normal...!

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

Let's hope so Singmom1 Just looked at the camera (2130, Friday) Horror story, again. It's as though there are thousands more bikes than normal.....

If I leave town at 8pm (which I do if I can't leave before 4) it normally takes about 50 minutes, door to door.

This week it didn't seem to matter what time I left (home or work) the traffic jam was mega. When we eventually did get to the Singapore checkpoint, it didn't take any longer than usual and there were no issues with the card readers.

I worked from home today as I couldn't bear the thought of doing it again!

If it carries on like this I am going to have to have a massive rethink....

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

It has been very odd this week. It does seem like there are suddenly thousands more cars and bikes!

I know the Singapore schools finish today for their long break and I think the Malaysian ones have roughly the same holidays so maybe that's the cause. Who knows?!

I usually leave work at 5pm (Portsdown Road) and can be home in Nusajaya for 5.45pm. Straight through both Immigration counters normally so this week has been a real shock to the system. Just as we'll my office is really flexible as I was late every morning this week.

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

I thought it might be the schools.... but the problem seemed to be bikes. Once we got ahead of the bikes (in the one lane left for cars) we whizzed through.

Plus, the reason bikes aren't a problem at the Malaysia side is they're rarely stopped. Normally I just drive through the MACS lane on mine, both ways, and don't need to stop!

Is there some major contract going on where they've employed an extra 10,000 people from Gelang Patah???:(

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

I understand there has been a new computer system initiated at the Singapore checkpoint since 10th Nov which seems to be taking longer to process the flow of cars and motorcycles going through. Certainly there has been a marked slow down on the Singapore side since then and the Malaysia side is (currently) relatively plain sailing. As with all systems though, it is probably just a question of the users getting more used to it to get faster.

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

Hello MCM (school??) Dad... thanks for that info.. (and welcome to the forum, but that's BB's job!!) it seems to make sense.

I was coming back from S'pore last night, about 6pm, and it was taking between 2 and 3 minutes per car!! Took forever. I felt sorry for the line up coming in to Singapore.... it went right back to the land at Malaysia!!!
We were first in the queue at the Malaysia side, after being stuck for over half an hour at the S'pore side.

Re: Something wrong at the Singapore border?
 

and :welcome: from me too