What commuters from across the Causeway must face

Imagine a major MRT breakdown every month and a minor one every week. If the breakdowns are so often that they become the norm, and a smooth ride the exception, it would be unimaginable.

Unfortunately, that is what thousands of commuters from across the Causeway must face (“Security checks, lack of lane discipline led to Causeway jams: ICA”; Dec 22).

My commute to work that used to take less than an hour took three and a half hours recently, which could be attributed almost entirely to a single stage along the route.

I have been travelling along the Second Link for a year and a half, and my commuting time has slowly increased in the past few months because there are more commuters, checkpoint clearance is slower or both.

Crossing checkpoints involves clearing immigration and customs, for individuals and vehicles, and I have noticed the bottleneck when approaching and clearing the Singapore checkpoint, from either side.

Delays can occur in a number of ways: The Autogate system could crash; manual counter and vehicular inspection can be thorough; and recently, extra red lights were installed after the checkpoint for no apparent reason except to slow traffic further.

As the checkpoint is a narrow strip of land, a delay in one section can spill over into other sections. Even if one section is efficient, others can drag it down. The clearance speed is determined by the slowest section.

Unless all sections function efficiently, traffic build-up is inevitable. When vehicles arrive faster than they can be cleared, each delay gets added to subsequent arrivals.

Most of the workers travelling daily between Malaysia and Singapore are Malaysians and Singapore Permanent Residents. Since they are not Singaporeans, they have little say or leverage; their well-being is low on either government’s list of priorities.

I wish to highlight the effect this daily slog has on the commuters and the economy. Time wasted on commuting is a form of productivity lost. Goods, raw materials, workers and, ultimately, jobs are delayed.

Workers become tired and short-tempered, which increases the chance of road and work-related accidents. Their health suffers from the fumes of vehicles stuck in traffic, wasting energy and emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide.

I am not suggesting sacrificing security on the altar of efficiency. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority has made adjustments to improve clearance speed. But those improvements are a drop in the ocean of delays.

Perhaps both governments could consider an LRT line connecting the two checkpoints, or combined checkpoints.