A Singaporean man drove to Danga Bay in Johor Bahru on Sunday to check on his Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) application and ended up queuing for three hours.
Rasidi Awang, 53, arrived and waited at the TCSens office in Malaysia at 8:45am on Sep. 22, reported Berita Harian.
But the trip up north was worth it.
He told the Singapore Malay media that there were about 150 people in the queue, which moved every 10 to 15 minutes.
He said: "I got it all sorted at 11:45am."
This was after he and his son tried to check on the VEP application online but encountered difficulties.
He explained that the other VEP offices in Taman Daya (JPJ Complex) and Larkin, which opened on Sunday, do not help motorists with queries as they are VEP Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags collection and installation venues by appointment only.
The TCSens office in Danga Bay is the vendor appointed by Malaysia's Road Transport Department (JPJ) to provide information to Singapore motorists.
No such luck
However, not all Singaporeans who went to Johor were able to resolve their VEP issues in a straightforward manner.
Alhakim Salim, 41, showed up at Johor's JPJ Complex at 7am.
He was told an hour later the office could not resolve his issues as it did not handle queries.
He then went to the TCSens office in Danga Bay as well.
He completed his VEP application at around 12pm.
Woodlands VEP office in Singapore
Singaporeans can also collect their VEP tags at the Woodlands office, which is the only one VEP installation and information centre in Singapore at the moment.
The centre can only install between 100 to 150 tags and handle 100 enquiries per day.
Common problems encountered by motorists include the inability to complete online payment on the VEP application portal, problems deregistering VEP applications of previous owners for those who drive second-hand vehicles, as well as trouble trying to apply to get physical tag for those who applied for VEP years ago when the scheme was first announced.
Malaysia will require all foreign-registered vehicles entering the country by land from Singapore to use VEPs from Oct. 1, it was announced in May 2024.
Motorists who fail to do so may be fined up to RM2,000 (US$606) or jailed for up to six months.
Top photo via Google Maps