New clearance hall eases Woodlands Checkpoint jams, speeds up worker commutes

Traffic flow during peak hours at Woodlands Checkpoint has improved following the opening of a new clearance hall, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said on Tuesday (June 30).

The new hall — created by repurposing part of the departure cargo zone at Woodlands Checkpoint — is dedicated to chartered buses and vans ferrying workers between Singapore and Malaysia during weekday evening peak periods.

This new arrangement has freed up bus bays at the main departure bus concourse for both public and looping bus services since April 17.

The new hall is also equipped with 15 automated clearance kiosks and has reduced average clearance time for travelling workers from 30 minutes down to 10, ICA stated.

ICA explained that while chartered buses and vans ferrying workers form only a portion of overall traffic, these workers may end up taking longer at bus bays as each worker is individually cleared.

This results in congestions and overcrowding of the departure bus concourse during weekday evening peak periods.

Since implementing the new hall, more than 8,000 buses and vans - carrying over 142,000 travellers - have used the new passenger clearance hall as on June 20.

On average, around 200 vehicles and 3,000 travellers are diverted into this hall each weekday, ICA said.

Traffic congestions would typically ease around 11pm, but that has since changed to 9pm following the launch of the new hall.

"ICA has optimised the use of limited bus bay capacity, reduced waiting times, improved traffic flow within the checkpoint and enhanced the experience for all travellers," the authority stated.

"ICA is committed to improving clearance efficiency and enhancing travellers' experience at our checkpoints."

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