M-cyclists revved up over no toll at Second Link

JOHOR BARU: The decision to abolish the toll for motorcycles on the Second Link has been warmly received by bikers crossing it daily.

Quantity inspector K. Kartik, 38, was among the first to shout for joy. He has been crossing over to Singapore daily for work over the past 20 years.

“We now pay RM1.10 to go in and another RM1.10 to exit daily.

“This will be a huge saving,” he said, adding that Singapore charged 40 sen (RM1.20) for Singapore-registered motorcycles and S$4 (RM12) for foreign-registered ones at the Second Link.

There is no toll charged for motorcycles at the Johor Causeway.

Motorcyclist Hamdan Ali, 52, who also travels to Singapore daily for work, hoped that the amount allocated by the government for the Secured Automated Clearance System for Malaysian Citizen Motorcyclists (M-Bike) would ensure that the system did not break down frequently at the Causeway and Second Link.

“Sometimes we get stuck for up to an hour due to various traffic snarls at both checkpoints,” he said, adding that he hoped the M-Bike system would be fine-tuned.

Over 40,000 motorcyclists use the Causeway and Second Link daily.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had announced that the toll collection for motorcyclists would be abolished from Jan 1.

Meanwhile, the Johor government expects Singapore to abolish toll payment for motorcyclists at its Tuas checkpoint following Malaysia’s move to abolish toll for motorcyclists using the Second Link in Gelang Patah.

Johor International Trade, Investment and Utilities Committee chairman Jimmy Puah said: “There are thousands of Malaysians commuting to Singapore on motorcycles daily to work there.

“We will be happy if our neighbour also follows the decision Malaysia has taken.”

On Feb 1, Singapore revised its toll charges and levy at the Woodlands checkpoint to match Malaysia’s removal of toll charges at the Eastern Dispersal Link.

The Land Transport Authority of Singapore said this was in line with Singapore’s long-standing policy of matching Malaysia’s toll rates.

“Abolishing toll collection for motorcyclists at the Second Link would ease congestion at the Causeway,” Puah said after presenting Deepavali goodies to 100 underprivileged families here yesterday.