In the lead-up to the March school holidays (7 to 10 March 2024), more than 1.8 million travellers crossed Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints. About 495,000 travellers crossed our land checkpoints on 8 March 2024 (Friday), surpassing the previous peak of about 485,000 travellers in August 2019, before COVID-19.

2.          During this period from 7 to 10 March, continuous tailback from Malaysia resulted in heavy departure traffic at both our land checkpoints. To manage vehicular queues and human traffic at the bus halls and bus concourses, ICA adopted a multi-pronged approach:

Real-time traffic monitoring to manage congestion

• Monitored traffic conditions as they evolved and to dynamically redeployed resources and adjusted processes in real-time to improve clearance time and travellers’ experiences.
  
• Converted cargo zones at Woodlands Checkpoint to clear car travellers.
  
• Updated the traffic situation frequently via ICA’s Facebook page, the Expressway Monitoring & Advisory System installed along BKE and AYE, as well as through local radio broadcasts, for travellers to plan ahead before embarking on their journey and factor in additional time for immigration clearance.

Collaboration with partners and agencies to ensure smoother traffic and passenger flow

• Worked with the Land Transport Authority and cross-border public bus services such as SBS Transit and Causeway Link to increase the frequency of buses to cope with the increased traveller volume. This minimised the waiting time for buses and prevented overcrowding at the bus concourse at Woodlands Checkpoint.
  
• Worked with Traffic Police to enforce lane discipline and minimise disruptions to vehicular flow when there were traffic accidents leading to the land checkpoints.
  

Additional measures to ensure safety and well-being of travellers

• Deployed additional officers to perform crowd control at the bus concourses, bus halls and the walkway from Woodlands Train Checkpoint leading to the bus hall at Woodlands Checkpoint.
  

3.          The traffic is expected to remain very heavy at both land checkpoints throughout the rest of the March school holidays. Travellers are advised to check the traffic conditions before embarking on their journey, expect longer waiting times and factor in more time for immigration clearance. We seek their understanding and patience, and ask that they refrain from queue-cutting, observe traffic rules, and cooperate with officers on-site.

4.          ICA will continue to review our checkpoint operations and introduce innovative initiatives and streamline and automate existing processes for a faster and more seamless immigration clearance for travellers. The roll-out of the QR code initiative for car clearance is one such initiative.

IMMIGRATION & CHECKPOINTS AUTHORITY 
12 MARCH 2024