JOHOR BARU: The recent massive traffic congestion at the bus lane of the Second Link was due to an influx of tourists coming from Singapore, says a state executive councillor.
Johor tourism, environment, heritage and culture committee chairman K. Raven Kumar said close to 200 tour buses had crossed the Second Link to enter Johor during peak hours last Saturday.
“The Mentri Besar and I visited the Sultan Abu Bakar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) on Sunday to check on the situation following Saturday’s incident.
“We learnt that there were a large group of tour buses coming in all at once on Saturday, causing the crawl.
“The congestion happened between morning and noon, and dissipated after that,” he told The Star.
Asked why local buses, including factory and public buses were given priority, he said it was to reduce congestion.
“Tour buses ferry foreign tourists who are coming in with passports while local buses ferry Malaysians.
“It takes a shorter period of time for passengers on local buses to pass the immigration checkpoint.
“That was why the tour buses were told to wait at the side. Immigration only allowed passengers from four tour buses to disembark at one any time to avoid them having to wait too long at the checkpoint.
“It was not about giving preference to local buses, but rather to ensure tourists do not have to suffer by having to stand too long at the immigration counter,” he said.
Asked if all the immigration counters were opened that Saturday, he said it was only in the later hours of the day.
“There are some ongoing renovation works at the CIQ, as such, some of the counters were unmanned in the morning.
“However, after the traffic congestion had gotten worse, we opened up all of the counters.
“We will ensure that the counters remain open in the future,” he said, adding that there were about 24 counters at the bus lanes.
Moving forward, Raven Kumar said that the state government would liaise with tour operators in Singapore and Johor to accommodate tourists entering Johor through the two land checkpoints.
“It will be easier to control the traffic flow if we know the time tour buses are coming in from Singapore.
“As such, we will talk to our counterparts in Singapore and industry players here through Tourism Johor.
“We will work out a system to stagger entry and optimise traffic flow,” he said.
Meanwhile, Johor Tourist Guides Association chairman Jimmy Leong Wie Kong said that they are glad appropriate measures are being taken to nip the issue.
“Following the ugly incident on Saturday, all counters were manned the following day, with the inner terminal opened. The delay was no longer there.
“Next weekend, the numbers will be higher as we have detected huge numbers coming in from Singapore for the durian tour in Yong Peng, Tangkak and Segamat,” Leong added.
