Oh yeah, it’s that time of the year again.
Not that you needed any reminders because everywhere you go you’ll be hearing “guo xin nian, zhu xin nian” or some kind of Chinese New Year music.
Or maybe you forgot because stores also tend to start those songs immediately after Christmas.
Reminder: Heavy Traffic At Woodlands, Tuas Checkpoints
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) wants to remind people like me who will complain about the traffic, that the traffic at both Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints will be heavy during the Chinese New Year holidays. So, expect delays.
But nobody is boliao enough to write an article just to remind you that: we have stats over here.
The exact dates for heavy departing traffic are between 17 Jan and 28 Jan, while heavy arrival traffic is estimated to be 25 Jan to 28 Jan.
If you’re wondering how heavy exactly traffic will be, on the Friday before Christmas in 2019, ICA cleared 475,000 travellers across the checkpoints, which is the highest number they have seen in recent years.
Even now, 415,000 travellers use the checkpoints daily, which is still a problem that needs to be addressed.
*cough cough RTS*
Avoid Causing Delays By Doing These Things
Ever realised you were wrong in the middle of the argument?
That’s the same feeling you’ll get when you complain about the traffic… only to realise you’re one of the people delaying the traffic itself.
To prevent that from happening, be sure to check that your passport has a remaining validity of six months or more.
Also check that you don’t carry prohibited items like “firecrackers, ‘pop-pop’ or controlled items like ‘bak kwa’, eggs and potted plants”.
When bringing in dutiable or controlled items, you should proactively make declarations to ICA officers before checks.
Also, do check the traffic situations before starting your journey.
And Don’t Even Think About Cutting Queues
Just for emphasis, we dedicated one section just to ask you not to cut the queue.
Believe it or not, cutting queues will actually make things even worse. It’s like the domino effect.
The ICA emphasised they “will continue to take necessary measures to improve clearance efficiency as much as possible without compromising security”.
“Our checkpoint officers will continue to monitor traffic conditions on a real time basis and ensure optimal deployment of resources.
“We will also continue to work with the Traffic Police to ensure road discipline at the critical junctions leading to the land checkpoints.”
