The Worst Jam Flavour – Traffic Jam

June 15, 2011 at 12:00 pm

The population of Kuala Lumpur and many other major cities in the world are very used to jams, even if they do not have it on toast every morning. Traffic jams often are the worst flavour of jam ever to be created by man, yet it is the most frequent occurrence, even though no one wants it. So it comes as no surprise when many tourists got upset when they had an unsuspected serving of traffic jam as they got caught in the thick of it as they crossed over to Malaysia from Singapore via the Causeway and Second Link checkpoints.

To further compound matters, the queue was so long that many of them had to consider relieving themselves by the side of the road due to the traffic jam. While the jam at the Causeway and Second Link is due to the new screening process that uses the biometric system, traffic jams are still a big concern in many cities in Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur. But there is some glimmer of hope in the future as the public transportation system in Klang Valley is being improved, albeit by stages. The Komuter service is now field testing new 6 coach trains that will be up and running sometime in 2012, while the LRT system will be expanded to include major outlying population areas like Puchong and Subang.

Perhaps traffic jams will be a thing of the past once these measures are implemented. Tell us what YOU think.

Read the full article below:

The traffic congestion at the Causeway and Second Link checkpoints last weekend was so bad that it got tourists riled up.

Johor Tourist Guide Association chairman Jimmy Leong said he received reports from many tourist guides who had to bear the brunt of angry tourists during the traffic jam last weekend.

“Some tourists were fuming be-cause they had to wait as long as seven hours in the jam and it came to a point where even my guides were afraid to say “Welcome to Malaysia”.

“We are concerned that this could affect tourist arrivals to the state as some were even forced to relieve themselves by the side of the road due to the traffic jam,” he said, adding that this created a bad impression of the country.

Malaysian Indian Business Asso-ciation (Miba) president P. Sivaku­mar said many business owners and employees were afraid that the traffic snarl would result in less people travelling across the border.

“Businesses here have already been affected and I believe that if the problem persists, we would be on the losing end,” he said, adding that if the jams occurred often, those em-ployed in Singapore may lose their jobs due to the strict employment regulations.

Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) chief executive Ismail Ibrahim said it had also received feedback from commuters on the traffic congestion.

He said one of the reasons for the bad traffic jam was the introduction of the biometric system to screen foreigners leaving and entering Johor.

“We will hold continuous talks with the Immigration Department to share and get the latest updates on the biometric system which could be one of the reasons for the jam,” he said.

Under the biometric system, foreigners are required to have their left and right index fingers scanned at entry and exit points to the state.

Source: The Star