SINGAPORE, Nov 29 — For many Malaysians in Singapore, the launch of the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) today between the two countries will mean joyful reunions but for some it may be a tearful final reunion.

Malaysian Koh Mee Seng, who was on the first bus back to Johor from Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange, said opening up the land border was a godsend.

The 54-year-old was on her way home to visit her 83-year old mother who is currently hospitalised with Covid-19.

The doctors have warned her family to "prepare for the worst”, said Koh, who teared up several times as she spoke to TODAY as she waited to board the 8am bus.

Her two teenage children whom she resides with in Singapore used three laptops and three mobile phones to help her book a ticket home.

"I hope she can wait for me to be by her side,” said Koh, a long-term pass holder from Malaysia.

The housewife said she is also looking forward to seeing her husband and siblings whom she has not seen since borders between both countries closed in March last year.

The first bus serving VTL lane passengers pulled out of the Woodlands interchange at 8am sharp on Monday.

Last Wednesday, the two Governments announced that Singapore’s Transtar Travel and Malaysia’s Handal Indah, which is also known as Causeway Link, have been appointed to run designated buses between Singapore and Johor Baru.

For a start, each operator will make 16 trips from Malaysia to Singapore and 16 trips the other way daily, with each bus carrying up to 45 passengers a trip.

Up to 2,880 travellers are expected to travel both ways daily, a far cry from the more than 100,000 who used to make their way across the causeway pre-pandemic. However, the Government has said it will review the daily quota on a weekly basis.

The bus tickets went on sale from 8am on Thursday and passengers have to buy their tickets at least three days before the departure date.

Quarantine-free travel across the Causeway has been impossible for most travellers since March last year.

Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange

At Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange, passengers for the very first VTL bus started arriving as early as 6.30am ahead of the first bus’s departure at 8am.

The situation was orderly, with passengers queuing at one of the berths to check in at a booth set up by Transtar.

They had their documents checked and were issued stickers to indicate that they were travelling on the VTL bus.

At 7.30am, passengers were ushered to queue up at another berth as the bus pulled into the bay.

Passengers that TODAY spoke to said that the check-in process was smooth. Many were looking forward to visiting loved ones, with some also intending to surprise them.

One of them was Kavin Raj Gunalan, a 24-year old operations manager at an IT company.

He returned to Singapore in July to renew his work permit.

However, the strict regulations meant that he was unable to return to his home in Johor Baru.

"I’m really excited to go back. My grandparents have no idea I’m going back so I’m going to surprise them,” he said. 

He added that he plans to work remotely from Malaysia before returning to Singapore next February.

While the check-in process was smooth, Kavin said that he hopes the process of applying for a vaccinated travel pass will be simplified so that it will be easier for the elderly to apply.

Kavin said that it took him several hours to figure out and upload the necessary documents to have his pass approved.

Passengers on the second bus from Woodlands, which departed at 8.40am, also arrived at the bus interchange early in anticipation of their first journey home in a while.

Peggy Koh Pei Gi, a 28-year-old, who had a ticket for that bus, arrived at the interchange at 6.30am.

Koh, who is a money changer, has not seen her newborn daughter since June last year and can only watch her daughter grow up from afar over video calls.

She returned to Johor last February to deliver her first born and stayed on for three months during her maternity leave.

She said she had decided to return to Singapore after her leave as she did not think the borders between both countries would be closed for long.

"I thought by the end of 2020 it would open up but it ended up only opening after more than a year,” said Koh.

"Last time, she was still a baby but now she can run already.”

Delay at Queen Street

Over at Queen Street Bus Terminal, there was a delay in the arrival of the first buses from Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal.

The first bus carrying two passengers, which was supposed to arrive at 9am, pulled up into the terminal at 9.48am and the second, which had one passenger, shortly after at 9.50am.

Due to the delay, spare buses which were on standby were deployed at 9.17am and left at 9.28am.

Two buses are deployed for each time slot with a capacity of about 20 passengers per bus, seated in the rear of the bus, leaving the front half empty.

"The ventilation is better and passengers would also prefer a more comfortable ride where there is some distance (between seats).

"It’s an extra cost to us (to have two buses per slot) but we think of the comfort of the passengers,” said founder of Causeway Link Lim Han Weng, 69, who was at the bus terminal this morning.

When asked what could have caused the delay, his wife, Bah Kim Lian, 69, said there could be a number of factors.

"It’s the first day so there are bound to be these delays. Because previously there are no documents (they have to show), they can just pass through. But from tomorrow it should be okay,” she said.

Malaysian Sherry Sim, 45, teacher, arrived at Queen Street with her niece at 6.50am, ahead of the 9am bus departure.

Sim, who had not returned home since February last year, would cross the Causeway every weekend before travel restrictions were imposed.

"I just can’t wait to get home,” said Sim who was first in line.

Before boarding the bus, commuters had their bus ticket, ART results, vaccination certificate, passport and temperature checked.

Staff present also made sure they had downloaded the MySejahtera application on their mobile phone.

Technician Mohamad Farhan, 30, told TODAY that his return home would be a surprise for his wife and two daughters, aged one and three, who he has not seen since August last year.

"My wife knows about the VTL but I didn’t tell her I was going to come because I didn’t want to give her hope since I didn’t know if I could get a ticket and it could have been canceled at the last minute too,” he said.

Along with his roommate, Farhan spent Thursday morning refreshing one laptop and four mobile phones to get their hands on tickets to return home.

"I’m excited and I can’t wait but I’m also scared. My kids don’t know me. They might not recognise me,” said Farhan, who has worked in Singapore for over five years and would commute daily in the past.

Nurse Yunisha Krishnan, 33, who gave birth in Singapore on Oct 29 last year said she was excited for her family back home to see her son for the first time.

"I was always planning to give birth in Singapore but I thought that family members would join us here. Being alone with a new baby was not easy.

"During the confinement period my husband was taking care of me, using YouTube to look for recipes to cook for me,” said Yunisha.

Causeway Link’s Lim cautioned that all passengers should arrive on time so they do not risk being left behind.

"There were quite a few cases today. The buses can’t wait for long because we don’t want to have delays,” he said.

Arriving from Malaysia

Over at Woodlands Checkpoint, Singapore citizens and permanent residents (PRs) were making their way back to Singapore from Malaysia.

The number of travellers who were Singapore-bound appeared to be far fewer than those who departed from Singapore for Malaysia this morning.

Two Transtar buses arrived at the Checkpoint at 12.50pm on Monday carrying about 15 passengers each.

Among them was Bruce Tum Chen Wee, a 42-year-old Singaporean who serves as a church pastor in Malaysia.

He was accompanied by his wife, who is a Singapore PR, and their two children aged 12 and seven.

Tum said he had last been in Singapore during the Chinese New Year period last January and was glad that the VTL had been opened during the year-end period.

"It’s great to bring the kids here during the school holidays,” he said.

His family intends to visit Universal Studios Singapore and meet up with friends during their five-day stay in Singapore. — TODAY