The school holidays are upon us and many are looking to have a quick getaway across the border. Last weekend, however, some people found themselves stuck in traffic for hours at Tuas Second Link.
Taking to a Facebook group dedicated to traffic information in Johor, one netizen, Will Chia wrote in Chinese: “Crossed the Singapore checkpoint at 11am, it’s been more than three hours and [we’ve] not reached the Malaysian checkpoint.”
Chia also uploaded a video taken from his vehicle, showing a group of people walking along the side of the road to get to Johor.
Among them was a father who was carrying his daughter. It is unclear if he left his car behind to make the trek over.
In the comments, other netizens were also lamenting the slow-moving traffic, attributing it to the holiday season.
Things were not great at Tuas, but the situation at Woodlands didn’t seem to fare better.
One netizen, Terance Tay, saw several cars trying to enter the checkpoint via the bus lane, and said that some of them were caught in the act by the authorities and told to rejoin the queue.
Finding creative ways to cope with cross-border traffic jams
Since land borders between Singapore and Malaysia re-opened in April, traffic jams along the land borders have become frequent as crowds flock to Johor, especially during the weekends and public holidays.
As a result, some travellers resorted to doing pretty unusual things on the road.
In October, TikTok user buffbaby88 shared that she had to walk more than 2km just to relieve herself after she was stuck in the jam for more than five hours.
“My highlight today: Walking down Tuas connecting Malaysia jam for about 2km+ because I needed to pee,” she wrote in her TikTok video.
The drama didn’t end there, as she wrote that even after making the trek to the nearest facility, the staff didn’t allow her to use the toilet.
However, she added that a “man went ham and broke the toilet door”.
Back in June, another traveller got peckish while queueing and decided to tuck into some putu mayam on the bonnet of his car with his friend.
He also spent about two hours helping to redirect traffic, before re-rerouting and returning to Singapore via Woodlands checkpoint.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.