Govt to replace Mbike system at land checkpoints with Singapore

JOHOR BARU: The government has decided to replace the Mbike system at the two land checkpoints with Singapore with a QR code system from June 1, says Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that a three month proof-of-concept (POC) period has been set for the implementation of the new system.

"Yes, this new system will replace the mBike system that was previously used at the two CIQs," he said when asked about the matter.

Asked if the change in system just three months after the change in vendor for the mBike system would cause the Federal government to suffer major losses, he said that it would not.

"It will not as they (the vendor) will focus on maintenance and we already have a new system," he said.

When contacted, state works, transportation, infrastructure and communication committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the existing vendor for the mBike system will continue maintaining the infrastructure.

"Only the system will be changed. The infrastructure and hardware will be the same. So, the existing vendor will continue to do maintenance work," he said.

The Star had earlier reported that the MBike system had been down since March due to the change of vendor, affecting some 40,000 Malaysians using the system to commute daily to Singapore.

The MBike system was introduced eight years ago to help reduce the gridlock at both land checkpoints with Singapore.

On March 1, the Federal government decided to replace the original vendor of the project who, in 2016, custom-built the entire system for the Immigration Department.

This resulted in the department ditching the Mbike system at both land checkpoints at the Causeway and Second Link to revert to the manual system of checking passports, leading to congestion in the motorcycle lanes during the daily peak hours.