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TRAVEL to Johor has taken a hit after security checks were stepped up at the two border crossings following the escape of terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari.
Five agencies, specialising in coach travel to and from Malaysia, report a five to 20 per cent drop in bookings since the manhunt began two weeks ago.
On the other hand, they are taking more enquiries daily from concerned commuters. Said Ms Lotus Ooi, 34, Konsortium Express & Tours' assistant general manager: 'There is definitely a drop in people willing to travel. They are trying to avoid coach travel, but they mostly complain about operations at immigration not the bus service.'
Konsortium Express, which has about 30 buses making 30 trips from Singapore to numerous locations in Malaysia daily, said its bookings have fallen by 20 per cent in the past fortnight.
Taxi-drivers have been hit even harder. Cabbies with permits to ferry passengers to and from Malaysia say that their earnings from such trips have dropped by about half.
In addition to the regular trips, they typically make about three trips to Malaysia and back daily. This has dwindled to about one a day.
On Wednesday afternoon, the massive jam continued, causing a 1.5 km traffic build-up from the Woodlands Checkpoint all the way to Kranji. Stuck in the line were about 200 heavy vehicles.
Another 1km-long queue of about 300 cars snaked towards the same checkpoint.
And at the Tuas Checkpoint at 5pm on Wednesday, about 150 large vehicles were waiting in line to get clearance.
The wait for larger vehicles ranged from four to eight hours, while the smaller vehicles took about 25 minutes to an hour to clear.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has deployed 'every available officer to do security checks at the checkpoints', said an ICA spokesman.
Additional officers from other agencies like the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) have been roped in to help speed up the clearance and are also lending a helping hand at the checkpoints.
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