Earlier this week, Chief Minister of Johor, Hasni Mohammad, claimed that a “land border crossing” between Singapore and Johor would be implemented on 29 Nov, the same day that our Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) with Malaysia will launch.
This gave us hope of returning to the good old days of crossing the border whenever we wanted food and shopping.
But then, just a couple of days later, Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said we’ll have to be patient, as opening a land VTL is a lot more “complicated”.
Given how many times we’ve been hurt in the past with travel arrangements, we decided to chuck any optimism we had out the window.
That is, until certain photos of buses made their way online.
Buses With VTL Signs Spotted in Malaysia & Singapore
Netizens hoping to cross the border were heartened and excited by a Facebook post that showed the familiar Causeway Link buses in Malaysia and Singapore.
These buses displayed signs saying “VTL SG-MY”, which sent hopeful travellers into a frenzy.
The post, published less than 24 hours ago on a public Facebook group, has already been shared over 2,000 times and garnered 1,600 likes.
Some netizens said they felt touched by the sight of the buses, something they once took for granted.
As for why these buses were spotted in both countries, well, you’ll certainly like the explanation.
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S’pore & JB Conduct Dry Run of Land VTL at Causeway with VTL Buses Spotted
In a Facebook post, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said that it has been working hard to iron out the details of the land VTL.
“As part of preparations, we conducted a trial run this morning to test new protocols and the entire end-to-end user journey so as to refine our processes,” it said.
It shared pictures of people going through customs, as well as one at what looks like a bus station.
So, the buses we saw carrying the VTL signs were likely part of these preparations.
If all goes as planned, the land VTL will likely be launched at the end of the month, as Mr Gan previously announced. He added that it could also fall on the same day that we launch our air VTL with Malaysia – 29 Nov.
1,440 people are expected to be able to travel between Johor and Singapore in the first week. Priority, of course, will be given to families who have been separated since the start of the pandemic.
Malaysian Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who tweeted about the dry-run as well, said the opening of the border is much anticipated by residents of both countries.
“Hope it goes well,” he said.
Well, we certainly do too.
Para pegawai dari Malaysia & Singapura sedang melaksanakan ‘dry run’ bagi cadangan pembukaan ‘Vaccinated Travel Lane’ melalui Tambak Johor. Pembukaan sempadan ini amat dinanti-nantikan oleh rakyat kedua-dua negara. Semoga berjaya. #ReopeningSafely pic.twitter.com/MiUw8Fn217
— Khairy Jamaluddin ??? (@Khairykj) November 23, 2021
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Featured Image: Facebook (Ministry of Trade & Industry & Teckchua Seah)