TUAS AND WOODLANDS CHECKPOINTS (Use of car lanes by motorcyclists)

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Home Affairs if his Ministry will consider (i) allowing motorcyclists holding Singapore passports to use the less jammed car lanes at the Tuas and Woodlands Checkpoints, so as to alleviate the long jams caused by Malaysian motorcyclists returning home after work and (ii) adding more staff and opening up more immigration Checkpoint counters during peak hours so as to reduce the time taken for Malaysian motorcyclists to clear Singapore immigration.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs (Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, our Checkpoints are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security and safety. Since September 11 2001, security checks at all our Checkpoints have been stepped up to prevent the entry of undesirable persons, weapons, explosives, etc. Whilst SIR, Customs and other agencies manning the Checkpoints try to clear travellers as quickly as possible, security cannot be compromised. Hence, travellers may, at times, have to put up with slightly longer clearance times.

Mr Chia has suggested that we should allow motorcyclists holding Singapore passports to be cleared at car counter during peak periods. Sir, we have found that this idea is not very practical. I will explain why. Currently, the land Checkpoints adopt a sound practice of segregating the different forms of various types of traffic: motorcycles, cars, lorries, buses, etc, as they enter or leave the Checkpoints. This allows for easier traffic management. However, if motorcyclists were allowed to weave in and out of traffic, they could obstruct cars, lorries and other vehicles from entering the Checkpoints and even slow traffic down further, as had happened in the past. They would also pose safety problems and even endanger their own lives.

Mr Chia has suggested adding more staff and opening up more immigration counters during the peak period. SIR monitors traffic conditions at the Tuas and Woodlands Checkpoints very closely and has undertaken measures to alleviate the traffic congestion. During the morning and evening peak periods when motorcycle traffic is particularly heavy, as many motorcycle clearance counters are open at the two Checkpoints as possible. All available manpower is deployed to clear all modes of transport during the peak hours, with more being deployed to the critical areas. For example, if there are more motorcycles, more officers will be deployed to clear motorcycles. SIR has also staggered their shifts and has a system to call upon off-duty officers to help with very heavy volumes of travellers.

Traffic congestion, however, is inevitable whenever a large number of motorcyclists and other travellers try to pass through the Checkpoints at the same time. We urge all travellers, wherever possible, to adjust their travelling times to avoid the peak periods. They can call the traffic information hotlines or listen in to TrafficWatch on our radio stations to find out the latest traffic conditions at the Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints. In some cases, they should consider to car pool or even use public transport.

Sir, I would like to assure the House that all the agencies operating at the Checkpoints are committed to minimising traffic congestion without compromising on security and safety.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, does the Senior Parliamentary Secretary know that most of the motorcyclists are actually Malaysian workers going back after work and there is no possibility of them actually staggering their working hours, unless their companies agree? In a sense, it takes about one hour for them every day to clear the Customs, and something has to be done. So, would the Ministry actually increase the workforce at peak hours? After monitoring the situation for such a long time, they should actually know when are the peak hours and should have more officers manning more counters.

Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M: Sir, the question asked by Mr Chia was whether motorcyclists holding Singapore passports could be allowed to use the less jammed car lanes. In this respect, the suggestion is for them to try to adjust their time - they should not go into the Checkpoints when all the Malaysian workers are going back, because they are going to be trapped in a traffic jam.

In any case, Sir, at the moment, overall, our figures show that 85% of motorcyclists are Malaysians, and they are holding long-term passes. At the immigration counters, they are cleared within 20 seconds, because we have their data, and they are cleared faster. The traffic jam, for most, according to our survey, is between 30-45 minutes, before they reach the 20-second clearance time. This is already much better than in the past. Because at the previous Checkpoint at Woodlands, for example, where most of these workers passed through before the new Checkpoint was ready, they had to wait longer than one hour before they were cleared. At the moment, because we segregate them, we have been able to clear them, and they get caught in a jam of between 30-45 minutes.

Officers are made available, whenever necessary. In fact, at peak hours, we have, if I am not mistaken, more than 25 counters open to clear the motorcyclists. During normal hours, there are about eight counters only. So, we have, in fact, trebled the number of counters available to clear them, and we will try to do more as and when it is necessary.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, I am happy to hear that the waiting time has been cut down from one hour to 40 minutes, and I look forward to the department cutting down the time to less than 15 minutes per waiting time.

As for the first part of my question about Singapore passport holders, I have the personal experience of reaching the Customs and seeing the car lanes were all empty. We actually wanted to use the car lane but we were told, "No, you cannot." One has to squeeze with the other motorcyclists, even though the car lanes are empty. On such an occasion, would the Customs actually allow Singaporean motorcyclists to use the car lane to be cleared, so as to divert the traffic away?

Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M: Sir, at the moment, I think the answer is no, unless we can make prior arrangements. If once we allow for a change, what happens if 10 seconds later, cars are coming in? These are the situations which will become more difficult to manage. Anyway when we talk about Singaporean motorcyclists, there is no guarantee that the pillion rider is also a Singaporean. And if you go into a Singapore citizen counter, your pillion rider cannot be cleared. So all other practical problems may arise if we change the system without taking into account all these factors. However, the point has been noted by the Immigration Department. They will see whether such changes are necessary in the future. At the moment, because we have been able to clear the traffic faster without undermining our security and safety, we find the current system quite useful and it should be continued for the time being.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, is the Customs Officer at the Woodlands Checkpoint aware that at peak hours, the motorcyclists are actually occupying the car lane way before the Checkpoint and as a result of which, they actually cause a traffic jam all the way from the flyover to Woodlands? And I do not see that any officer is actually helping to clear the lane.

Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M: Sir, what Mr Low mentioned was actually the situation that occurred mainly at the previous Checkpoint, before the new Checkpoint was built. At the present Checkpoint, because of the experience in the past, we have actually segregated the different transport modes at about 200 metres before the Checkpoint. So at that point, if there is a traffic jam, there is a traffic jam. What we have done actually is to divide them into their separate zones and, hopefully, to speed up the process. That can take about - I do not know how many motorcycles or cars - but beyond that, a jam is a jam.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Clarification, Sir. The jam is actually before the lane divider where the motorcycle and motorcar lanes are segregated, and everybody gets jammed up and occupying the whole road.

Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M: Sir, that was the explanation I gave earlier to Mr Chia. As the vehicles reach the Checkpoint, we should not allow the different modes of transport to be mixed together. As he has explained, before the 200-metre point, the mixture of vehicles has caused a little bit of a difficult situation. This is what we have avoided - by segregating them at the 200-metre point.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Basically, would the Senior Parliamentary Secretary agree that the demand for the clearance is actually more than the supply provided by the Customs Office at the moment?

Encik Mohamad Maidin B P M: During the peak period, yes. What happens is this. The peak period in the morning, for example, is between 6 am and 9 am, when the vehicles come in. It is not possible for the Immigration Department, for example, to open up all the counters to cater for this big number of vehicles and to clear them as fast as possible. Because after that period, officers will be there and they will be idling around. They would have nothing to do because all the vehicles have been cleared.

I have the figures here for Mr Chia's information. In the morning peak hours, we open up more counters because we understand that they need to reach their work place as fast as possible. At the arrival point, in the morning, we open up 25 car lanes and 44 motorcycle lanes to cater for the vehicles from Malaysia. So the processing is faster. In the evening, it is different because they are departing, and they have no urgency to reach home within a certain period. So we open up 25 lanes. That is the maximum we can do for the morning and the evening because of the urgency for them to reach their work place by a certain time. We have done what we can to accommodate the needs of these workers, ie, to clear them as fast as possible.

Mr Speaker: Before we are jammed up by these questions, please raise your next Question, Mr Low.