Nearly 1.5m cleared Woodlands, Tuas checkpoints over Vesak Day weekend, record since borders reopened
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Close to 1.5 million travellers cleared through both Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints over the Vesak Day long weekend, said ICA.
ST PHOTO: EUGENE TAN
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SINGAPORE – Close to 1.5 million travellers cleared the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints over the Vesak Day long weekend from June 1 to 4, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Thursday. This is the highest on record for a long weekend since land borders reopened between Singapore and Malaysia in April 2022.
June 1 also saw the highest number of daily departures
The surge in travellers came as the Vesak Day long weekend coincided with the June school holidays, ICA said on June 2.
ICA said it took several measures to help manage congestion and ease the movement of travellers. These included working with the Land Transport Authority and cross-border bus service providers to schedule more buses.
It also deployed more officers to control crowds at the bus concourses, and updated the traffic situation frequently on social media platforms like its Facebook page and through local radio broadcasts.
Travellers can expect longer waiting times as ICA believes traffic will remain “very heavy” at both land checkpoints throughout the June school holidays, which end on June 25.
Heavy traffic has been reported at the Singapore-Malaysia land checkpoints since travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic were lifted.
During the Good Friday long weekend in April, close to 1.4 million travellers crossed the two checkpoints, with an average of about 350,000 people leaving and entering Singapore each day.
