Thread by @GwynethTeoCNA

It's past midnight, I've just left Woodlands Checkpoint where I've been camped out since 4pm talking to people, seeing the mad rush out, seeing the mad rush back in. Here's a short photo essay. 1/x #covid19 #bordercrossing #malaysia #singapore #causeway

We were seeing reports of bad traffic around Woodlands Checkpoint around 2pm. My own Grab driver told me that he'd been caught in a snarl motorcycles and cars trying to get into Woodlands Checkpoint to cross to Malaysia. We were surprised when traffic was smooth before 4pm. 2/x

Turns out that a lot of Malaysians had arrived at work in Singapore, been told to go home and grab enough for 2 weeks, and come back to Singapore. So the first wave of traffic across the border had mostly gone by 4pm. 3/x

People who got out of Singapore from 10am and rushed home to pack their things could make it back in by 5pm. A 7 hour round trip, not including the time they might have spent coming in in the morning.
And traffic coming into Singapore was completely backed up by nightfall. 4/x

At 5pm, people were telling us they'd walked 40 mins, an hour across the Causeway. One woman had blisters.

By 10pm, people were saying it was as long as 4 hours. Just extremely crowded; people spilling across multiple lanes, and long queues at immigration. 5/x

Don't forget this is one of the busiest land crossings in the *world*. 300,000 people make the trip every day.

Don't forget that Causeway congestion is already a bugbear. Msia and SG have been trying to solve the issue for years, either operationally or with infrastructure. 6/x

By 10pm, people were streaming out continuously. Auxiliary police were activated to manage the crowds and traffic. They were spilling out into the road, sitting on kerbs, even lying down to catch a rest as they waited for taxis or Grabs. 7/x

Some had been travelling all day. One Msian who works night shifts in a SG hotel - she'd reached home after work, only to be asked to return to SG ASAP with a packed bag. When we spoke at 11pm, she hadn't slept at all and was going straight into another night shift. 8/x

But the roads around Woodlands Checkpoint were totally jammed and so she was still waiting for her Grab even though she was technically already late for work. 9/x

This was the scene past midnight, crowds of people, some of whom had walked for hours with at least 2 weeks of luggage in tow, still waiting for a taxi, Grab, bus - while traffic itself was a standstill. This is the effect the sudden closing of a border had. 10/x

And while most were calm, some were emotional. People were being forced to choose which side of the border to be on for the next 2 weeks.

For people who make daily border crossings, their lives straddle the border precisely. 11/x

They've made arrangements that rely on the assumption that the border stays open. For instance - sending their kids to school in another country. Working in another country but making it home to be with kids and parents. Even where to park a motorcycle. 12/x

Some were upset they had to be away from family. That's exactly why they choose to commute every day, even though it's a long crossing It's also school holidays in both countries, and there was supposed to be family time - now cut short. 13/x

And there seemed to be little confidence that this border closure would only be for 2 weeks. One lady had packed for a month. A man in F&B was told to be prepared to stay for 3-6 months. Everyone hoped the border would re-open in 2 weeks, but nobody can know what will happen. 14/

And people who make this crossing everyday were saying they had never experienced anything quite like this.
The congestion was so bad that cross-border buses 160 and 170 terminated with immediate effect around 7:30pm, as any later buses might not make it back to SG in time. 6a/x