Have questions about VEP? Singapore drivers can visit info centre in Woodlands from Aug 19

SINGAPORE - An information counter for drivers of Singapore-registered cars with questions about their vehicle entry permit (VEP) will open in Woodlands on Aug 19, said Malaysia's Road Transport Department (JPJ).

The exact location and operation hours of this offshoot office will be announced closer to the date, a spokesperson from TCSens told The Straits Times.

TCSens is a private vendor appointed by JPJ to assist motorists with their VEP needs, from how to apply for the permit to how to display the radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on their cars.

It has been running a centre in Danga Bay, Johor Bahru, but there is a need for an office in Woodlands, due to the surge in visitors after Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced on May 28 that foreign-registered vehicles entering Johor from Singapore will require a VEP from Oct 1, or risk being fined or barred from entering Malaysia.

During Mr Loke's visit to the Danga Bay centre on Aug 1, he said the new counter at Woodlands will be operated by TCSens in collaboration with its partners in Singapore.

Drivers can go to the Woodlands centre for assistance. An enquiry hotline operating for 16 hours a day will also be set up.

He said the Danga Bay centre has "become very happening", serving long queues of visitors since his announcement about the enforcement. "Business was not good" at the centre during its last two years of operation.

The VEP was first announced in 2017. Its implementation was postponed twice, in 2019 and 2020, due to issues with the VEP-RFID tag's installation and registration.

Mr Loke said more employees will be hired to extend operating hours at TCSens into the night.

The transport ministry has so far received 58,791 applications made through the portal and physical counters. The number of applications received in the past two months exceeded those in the previous two years, Mr Loke said.

Around 50,000 other motorists are expected to make their applications within the next two months until the VEP is enforced in October.

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Mr Loke said enforcement will be taken seriously from Oct 1, with the ministry aware that more than 80 per cent of the 18,000 cars that enter Johor's two land checkpoints daily were doing so without the VEP. He said he will make another inspection visit to Johor in the first few days of October.

The Transport Minister also reminded motorists to activate their VEP-RFID tags within seven days upon receiving them. If they forget to do so, they can "reactivate" the tags on the application portal.

"It will be like asking for a new OTP after the previous one expired," Mr Loke said, referring to one-time passwords commonly used to authenticate banking transactions.

He stressed that the message was not to scare off foreign drivers, but for them to comply with the VEP system the government has spent more than RM100 million (S$29 million) on.

"We welcome Singaporeans to JB to spend, we want JB's economy to rise. They just have to abide by the laws," he said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.