FEWER PASSENGERS: Taxi drivers, some with special permits to ferry passengers to and from Malaysia, have seen their earnings from those trips slashed by half or more. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

View more photos

Congestion caused by security checks at the Woodlands Checkpoint and the Second Link at Tuas has led to many travellers avoiding coaches and cabs, or choosing not to drive over the border. Others are keeping away from the roads altogether by hopping on planes or trains.

Five agencies specialising in coach travel to and from Malaysia report that bookings have fallen by up to 20 per cent since the detainee escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27.

Concerned commuters have also been keeping the phone lines busy: luxury coach companies like Aeroline get more than 20 inquiries daily on everything from waiting times to the jam situation.

Clearing the border checkpoint can take up to an extra four hours for coaches, and up to an hour more for cars and cabs.

The delay can stretch up to an extra eight hours for large vehicles like trucks.

Ms Lotus Ooi, 34, assistant general manager of Konsortium Express & Tours, said her company has seen a 20 per cent drop in coach bookings.

Its buses, which number around 30, make 30 trips from Singapore to numerous locations in Malaysia daily.

Taxi drivers, some with special permits to ferry passengers to and from Malaysia, are feeling an even bigger pinch.

Their earnings from those trips have been slashed by half or more. In the past, many usually made two to three such trips at a fixed rate of $40 for four people. Now, they do just one.

At about 12.30pm yesterday, about 200 large vehicles formed a 1.5km line from the Woodlands Checkpoint all the way to Kranji.

About 300 cars made up a second queue, stretching 1km in the direction of the Bukit Timah Expressway.

Over at the Tuas checkpoint at 5pm, about 150 large vehicles were waiting to get past the gantry into Malaysia.

The jams are causing a headache for more than commuters.

A 52-year-old man, who lives on the eighth floor of a condominium unit in Yew Tee, has been kept up for the last three nights by the impatient honking from weary drivers.

'How can we sleep? All we can do is look out of our windows and shake our heads,' he said.

To avoid the Causeway wait, many commuters are turning to off-road alternatives like the KTM trains, which make six trips a day to Malaysia.

Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) Berhad spokesman Khadir Khalid said the number of train passengers has doubled this month - 600 a day, compared to the usual 300.

This is despite trains, too, seeing half-hour delays at immigration.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has been trying to ease the jams without compromising security, said its spokesman, adding that 'every available officer' has been roped in for the security checks.

Both the Central Narcotics Bureau and the Singapore Civil Defence Force have contributed a total of 230 officers to lend a hand.

ICA could not give figures on the drop in the number of people commuting from Singapore to Malaysia; about 280,000 people usually use the border crossings each day.

But frequent travellers to Malaysia say their trips are on hold.

Mr Haji Sawal Sarman, 62, who pops across the Causeway weekly with his family of four for cheaper groceries, has been doing his shopping closer to home.

He said: 'We haven't gone there for the last two weeks.'

limjess@sph.com.sg

leepq@sph.com.sg

OTHER REPORTS

Jams put brakes on road trips to Malaysia

'I think I saw Mas Selamat'

1,100 calls to police since the escape

The manhunt that brought S'poreans together