SINGAPORE - The processing time for vehicle entry permits (VEP), which foreign-registered vehicles need to enter Singapore, has been reduced from three weeks to five days as the number of applications has steadily decreased.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Friday (May 6) that it has received around 165,000 VEP applications since March 31, when applications opened, and 97 per cent of the applicants, or 160,000 of them, received the outcomes of their applications ahead of the stated processing time.
It did not say how many applications were approved or rejected.
Early last month, foreign motorists looking to drive into Singapore had to wait as long as seven weeks to know the status of their VEP applications, after the reopening of land borders between Singapore and Malaysia to vaccinated travellers on April 1 led to a surge.
The authority said then that it had received 76,000 applications within a week of March 31, more than six times the weekly average before the borders were closed in March 2020.
Processing time was progressively reduced to three weeks in mid-April after LTA increased its resources to cope with the surge.
It said on Friday that applicants will continue to be notified of the expected processing time at the point of their application.
In addition, from July 1, work pass holders living in Singapore will no longer be allowed to keep and use their foreign-registered vehicles here.
Instead, they must ensure that their vehicles are kept or used outside Singapore for a total of six hours or more every day, which was the policy before borders were shut.
LTA had issued an exemption to this during the pandemic to help workers stay in employment here while cross-border travel restrictions were in place.
The exemption was supposed to end on April 30, but has been extended to June 30. This will be the final extension in view of the resumption of cross-border travel.
LTA reminded motorists that VEP applications can only be done online via VEP Digital Services on LTA's OneMotoring website.
In addition to the VEP approval e-mail, motorists with foreign-registered vehicles must also have a valid Autopass card before they travel, and ensure there is sufficient value in the card.
The Autopass card is tagged to the vehicle and is not transferable. It is used to record the vehicle's entry into Singapore, as well as to pay the applicable entry and exit fees.
Those without Autopass cards must apply online, and must collect the card at LTA's Johor Bahru Service Centre before entering Singapore.
Meanwhile, cross-border bus and taxi service operations have been smooth after they were allowed to resume on May 1.
In the first four days alone, about 97,000 passengers have used these services.
Public bus services 160, 170 and 170X, operated by SBS Transit, and service 950, operated by SMRT Buses, have been reinstated, as have private bus services TS1, TS3, TS6 and TS8, operated by Singapore's Transtar Travel, and services CW1, CW2, CW5 and CW7, operated by Malaysia's Causeway Link.
The Straits Times earlier reported that commuters crossing the Causeway can board the close to 240 taxis that have been approved to ferry passengers across the land border.
Over the May Day and Hari Raya Puasa long weekend, more than 950,000 travellers used the land checkpoints between Singapore and Malaysia.
More travellers left Singapore - 491,400 - compared with 462,400 arrivals into the country over five days from April 29 to May 3.
