M'sian bus strike: Workers, school kids forced to walk to S'pore checkpoint
Workers and children were forced to walk along the Causeway into Singapore, from as early as 5am today.
The reason: Malaysian-registered buses were staging a strike to protest higher toll charges of the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP), which the Malaysian government imposed this morning.
Instagram/therealkuhan
Reports from social media said some passengers were asked to alight from the buses at 5am - after drivers refused to continue their journey to Woodlands.
Most of these passengers were school children and factory workers, who commute to Singapore daily.
The strike brought traffic to a standstill, causing a massive congestion on both sides of the Causeway.
Buses operating from Singapore to Johor Baru like 170 and 950 were reportedly not in service because of the congestion.
As of 10am, Service 950 has resumed while services 160, 170 and 170X have resumed partial service to JB.
Mr Sivaraj Nair, who had just finished the night shift as a security officer here, was stuck at the Singapore checkpoint because no buses were willing to go over to the Malaysian side.
So, he had to walk at least 3km to the Malaysian CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) before he could take a bus to go home.
"The whole situation was very messy. There were hardly any buses operating and both sides and we were all forced to walk. We didn't have a choice," said Mr Nair, 21.
"Not only was there a traffic congestion, there was heavy human traffic as well," he continued.
Facebook/MalaoEmbassy
Mr Gary Haris, a senior business development manager at KH securities, said that his Malaysian employees were stuck at both sides at about 6am this morning
"We were affected as well because we were short on manpower and had to scramble," said Mr Haris.
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