S’pore to ‘match’ Malaysia’s new road charge for foreign cars
Posters and banners placed at the immigration checkpoint at Woodlands towards Malaysia on Nov 1 2016, the first day a Road Charge of RM20 is imposed on all foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY
SINGAPORE — As Malaysia started collecting a new “road charge” of RM20 (S$6.60) for foreign-registered vehicles entering its borders on Tuesday (Nov 1), Singapore’s Transport Ministry (MOT) said that it would be matching “in some form” this new car levy imposed by its neighbour, with details to be announced soon.
The MOT assessed that this levy was “discriminatory” against Singapore-registered cars since it is applied only at the two Causeway and Second Link checkpoints at the Singapore-Johor Baru border.
Motorcycles and commercial vehicles are excluded from the scheme for now.
To enter Johor from Singapore, car drivers pay S$3.20 if they depart via the Tuas Checkpoint, or S$3.80 via Woodlands Checkpoint. Upon reaching Johor, a private car driver pays RM9.70 to enter, or RM16.50 for a round-trip, excluding the new road charge.
A Malaysian media professional living in Johor Baru, who wanted to be known only as Mr Goh, 48, has been travelling to work daily in his Singapore-registered car since 2011. He expressed frustration at the new charges and estimates that he now has to fork out about S$20 a day for a two-way trip, compared to S$13 before.
Deciding it was not worth the hassle, he plans to switch to public transport once his car’s Certificate of Entitlement expires next year. “It’s too much of a headache to think about the daily charges you have to pay to get to work... It no longer makes sense,” Mr Goh said.
He added that the authorities seem to be involved in a game of “one upmanship”: “Whatever the governments do, it affects the daily lives of people going in and out… (and the people) just have to just grin and bear it.”
Other drivers are undeterred by the road charge, like Nanyang Technological University student who identified himself as just Kenny. The 24-year-old travels across the Causeway once a week, and the cost savings of spending in Johor Baru are still much higher, so it is “still worth it”, he said.
Last Friday, Malaysia’s transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement that this road charge is not to be confused with the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) system.
The VEP, first proposed in 2006, was supposed to start mid-July with a charge of RM20 (S$6.64) for foreign vehicles entering Johor, but has been postponed several times. It is unclear if the VEP fee will be an extra payment separate from this new road charge.
