First land VTL arrivals at JB terminal greeted by goodie bags, bubble tea

It was fanfare no less for travellers from Singapore when the first vaccinated travel lane (VTL) bus they were in pulled into Johor Baru's Larkin terminal yesterday morning, greeted by a welcome banner, goodie bags and free bubble tea.

For some of them, their visit was a surprise for their families in Malaysia, whom they had not seen in person since border curbs were imposed by Singapore and Malaysia to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

"My family doesn't know I'm coming back. I want to surprise my grandmother especially," said Mr Kavin Raj Gunalan, an operations manager who donned a Johor football jersey.

Mr Gunalan, 24, also said he was looking forward to having Malaysian food - and that having nasi lemak would be high on his to-do list. He has not been back home for six months, and will be staying in Malaysia for three months before returning.

For Ms Chua Pei Sze, who was returning for the first time in a year, the pandemic has greatly altered her life and she was thankful for the VTL reprieve. "I used to come back every two weeks from Singapore to visit my family but now, that's down to once a year," said the 43-year-old, who returned yesterday with her two daughters.

Ms Chua will stay in Malaysia for the next three weeks before returning to Singapore.

Travellers were required to take a Covid-19 antigen rapid test upon arrival, and were released in batches once the results were negative. One passenger tested positive at the Johor Causeway entry point, said Malaysian Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the Johor Baru Health Office carried out a risk assessment on those who travelled on the same bus as the affected individual, to ascertain whether the rest of the passengers needed to be quarantined or subjected to other restrictions.

"This is why pre-departure and on-arrival tests are in place. As we safely reopen our borders, there will be positive cases at points of entry. Risk assessment, isolation and monitoring close contacts will become the norm," he tweeted.

Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said that based on checks by the bus operators, all passengers who departed from Singapore for Malaysia had tested negative for the pre-departure Covid-19 test.

Traders at the Larkin bus terminal are starting to see a glimpse of revival with the VTL, after intermittent lockdowns and drastically reduced capacity at the bus terminal battered their businesses.

Ms Siti Arbiah Abdullah, 68, who has been running a convenience store at the terminal since it started operations in 1996, said she had been saddled with debts and was hopeful that the VTL would help revive her business. "Hopefully, we can start to see an improvement," she told The Straits Times.

Mr Sharinizam Mohamad, 50, who has been selling traditional Malay pastry kueh bahulu at the terminal since 1996, said Johor businesses were heavily reliant on Singapore as both regions were "like brothers". "We do depend a lot on each other. My business has fallen by 90 per cent since the movement control order started," he told ST.