Rail Transit Service (RTS)’s track is on track.
Do Malaysians who work in Singapore travel daily or stay there?
More than 300,000 Malaysians travel across the Johor-Singapore Causeway every day, making it one of the busiest overland border crossings in the region. (Source: infographics.channelnewsasia.com) For the working ones, they have to wake up very early to arrive at the work place and then have to come back after the peak periods. This is repeated daily and the amount of time spent just on travelling would probably be 2 hours or more.
I tried this once (coming back to JB from SG) on a week day. I started at 7pm in Singapore and by the time I am back to Johor Bahru to take my car, it was already 915pm. Not easy at all. A lot of waiting, waiting and waiting. Of course not everyone travels to work daily. Many Malaysians working in Singapore are staying in Singapore instead. They do not wish to travel daily. They usually occupy a room and pay a room rental of S$750 (RM2,325) per month.
Article in channelnewsasia.com Malaysian Minister for Transport Wee Ka Siong said that work on the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link has reached “almost 10 per cent”.
He said, “Presently, the progress of work for the RTS project has reached almost 10 per cent, where the land acquisition process has already been completed and the infrastructure design has also been finalised. Currently ground work, movement of utilities and piling works are underway.”
The RTS Link aims to connect Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru to Woodlands in Singapore, serving about 10,000 passengers per hour each way to help ease traffic congestion on the Causeway. Do read the full article with more details here: Article in channelnewsasia.com
What about during holiday seasons?
During holiday seasons, the travel would easily take double the time. Malaysians wanting to go to theme parks in Singapore and Singaporeans wanting to come to Malaysia for a holiday. However, only about 10% of Singaporeans own a car in Singapore. Thus, there are easily another 90% of Singaporeans who would have to take public transport if they are to travel even just to Johor Bahru. Thus, when we look at all these potential demand, the RTS is a necessity.
It’s good news that the construction is now on track. The timeline for the service to start is January 2027. Would be great if it could start earlier but well, this was delayed, thus we have this new timeline now.
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