Woodlands or Tuas checkpoint: which to drive through from Singapore

Woodlands or Tuas checkpoint is mostly a question of where you are going in Malaysia. Woodlands Checkpoint puts you on the Causeway, and the Malaysian checkpoint at the far end of it sits in the middle of Johor Bahru, so Woodlands is the route for a meal, the malls or a hotel in town. Tuas Checkpoint takes the Second Link to Tanjung Kupang in western Johor, where the Second Link Expressway runs 47km up to the North-South Expressway. That makes Tuas the better start for Melaka, KL or anywhere north, and the usual way round when the Causeway is jammed.

The rest of the answer is the queue on the day. Both crossings get very busy on long weekends and in the school holidays. On 19 June 2026 ICA cleared more than 598,000 travellers through the two checkpoints in a single day, and car travellers leaving at peak hours have waited up to three hours this year. So pick the route at home, then look at LTA's checkpoint cameras before you start the car. The paperwork is the same for both crossings: an approved VEP and an activated RFID tag linked to a Touch 'n Go eWallet with money in it.

Key takeaways

• Use Woodlands for Johor Bahru city: the Causeway is 1,056m long and ends at the BSI checkpoint in town. Use Tuas for western Johor and the North-South Expressway, which the Second Link Expressway joins at Senai North.
• Tuas costs a car more in Singapore tolls. LTA charges a higher toll to leave through Tuas than through Woodlands, charges it again when you come home through Tuas, and charges nothing to come home through Woodlands.
• On weekdays the heaviest traffic is from 5am to 10am and 5pm to 9pm (MHA). On holidays in 2026, car travellers waited up to three hours at peak. Next up: the Deepavali weekend (8 and 9 November) and the school holidays from 21 November to 31 December 2026.
• Check the six checkpoint cameras on OneMotoring before you leave, and read the timestamp on each one. Since 1 September 2026 parts of the Tuas departure car zone have been closing in phases for works that run to late 2027.
• Both checkpoints read the same RFID tag and take the same RM20 road charge per entry. A tag that is fitted but not activated means a RM300 compound, and the car cannot leave Malaysia until it is paid.

Woodlands checkpoint and Tuas checkpoint compared

Singapore has two road crossings into Johor, and they lead to different parts of it. Here they are side by side for a car. The sources for each row are listed at the end of the page.

Woodlands: the Causeway into JB city

Woodlands is the old route and much the bigger of the two. MHA told Parliament in May 2024 that Woodlands Checkpoint clears 300,000 travellers a day, and as many as 340,000 on long weekends and public holidays, up from 230,000 a day in 2000. In January 2023 MHA put the two checkpoints together at close to 400,000 travellers a day, so most of the traffic goes through Woodlands.

What it has going for it is where it lands. You clear Singapore at Woodlands, drive the 1,056m of Causeway and clear Malaysia at BSI, right in Johor Bahru, so for a meal, the malls or a night in town there is no shorter way in. The catch is that most JB-bound traffic picks it for the same reason, and Woodlands is also the natural exit off the BKE for anyone coming from the north, east or centre of the island. Going further? From BSI you have to get through Johor Bahru's city roads before you reach the North-South Expressway, and on a busy day that is where the time goes.

Tuas: the Second Link to western Johor and the road north

Tuas sits at the western end of the AYE. The Second Link bridge crosses to Tanjung Kupang, where KSAB is, and from there the Second Link Expressway, which PLUS calls Linkedua, runs 47km to Senai North Interchange on the North-South Expressway. PLUS, which operates it, says the bridge was designed for up to 200,000 vehicles a day and that the route takes less time than the Causeway because traffic moves more smoothly in both directions. Whatever you make of an operator's claim about its own road, the map backs up part of it: for a drive to Melaka or KL, Tuas puts you on the expressway without going through JB city.

The price is distance, since from the north or east of Singapore Tuas is a long way round on our side, and if you end up wanting JB city after all you drive back east across Johor. Large MPVs have one more thing to know. ICA's advisory of 3 January 2024 moved models such as the Toyota Alphard, Toyota Vellfire, Hyundai Starex, Hyundai Staria and Maxus to the bus lanes at Tuas for both departure and arrival clearance, kept smaller MPVs in the car lanes, and gave no end date for the arrangement.

Tolls and charges at each checkpoint

LTA's toll table (last updated 28 May 2025) charges a car to leave Singapore at either checkpoint, and the Tuas toll is more than twice the Woodlands one. Coming home, Woodlands charges a car nothing and Tuas charges its toll again. You pay by putting your stored-value card (NETS CashCard, Motoring Card or CEPAS card) into the reader at the immigration booth, and you still have to pay it if the barrier lifts on its own. There are no top-up machines at the checkpoints, so top up before you set off.

On the Malaysian side the RM20 road charge is the same whichever way you go, and it comes out of the Touch 'n Go eWallet linked to your tag along with Malaysia's tolls. Our Touch 'n Go top-up page covers how much to keep in it. Any ERP charge on the drive up depends on your route and the time of day, and OneMotoring lists the current rates.

Which crossing suits which trip

We would start from where you are going in Malaysia, then adjust for where you live and for what the queue looks like on the morning.

One more option for the worst days. In its advisory of 6 February 2026, ICA suggested that travellers who have to cross at peak times consider the cross-border buses. If half your group is only going to the malls in JB city, that can be the easier plan, and the car goes over another day.

When Woodlands checkpoint traffic and Tuas checkpoint traffic peak

On a normal weekday the busy hours are the commute. MHA told Parliament in November 2019 that weekday traffic at the land checkpoints is highest from 5am to 10am and from 5pm to 9pm, and that waits at the Singapore checkpoints could then reach 1.5 hours, against about 30 minutes off-peak. Those wait times are from 2019 and leave out the Malaysian side, so read them as the daily pattern. We have not found newer hour-by-hour figures from MHA or ICA.

Holidays are another scale. ICA puts out an advisory before each long weekend and school holiday, and each one reports how the last busy period went. From those advisories:

ICA's 2026 releases say car travellers leaving at peak hours waited up to three hours for immigration clearance. ICA has also stepped up security checks at all checkpoints since 28 February 2026 and tells travellers to expect longer waits at peak times because of it. Its standing advice is to travel at non-peak hours, such as early in the morning or late in the evening.

Busy dates for the rest of 2026

• Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November 2026, and Monday 9 November is a public holiday (MOM).
• The school year ends on Friday 20 November, and the year-end school holidays run from Saturday 21 November to Thursday 31 December 2026 (MOE). The same holidays last year, 21 November 2025 to 1 January 2026, saw more than 22 million crossings at the two checkpoints (ICA).
• Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026 (MOM), a long weekend inside the school holidays.

ICA has put out an advisory before each long weekend and school holiday we checked this year, so look in its newsroom a few days before you go.

What causes a checkpoint jam on an ordinary day

The calendar does not explain every checkpoint jam. MHA's 2019 reply lists the other causes: traffic accidents, vehicle breakdowns, security incidents and tailbacks from Johor. You only find out about those on the cameras or from ICA's posts on the day.

Building works at Tuas and Woodlands

Both checkpoints are building sites right now, and that weakens the old habit of assuming Tuas is always the quiet one.

Tuas: departure car lanes closing in phases until late 2027

From 1 September 2026 ICA began removing the officer-staffed car counters at Tuas and replacing them with lanes for its Automated Passenger Clearance System (APCS), where drivers clear immigration from the car with a QR code and a biometric check. Parts of the departure car zones close in phases while this happens, with signs and hoardings to guide traffic, and the works are expected to last until late 2027 (ICA, reported by The Straits Times on 26 August 2026). ICA has said APCS lanes for cars will open progressively at Tuas from early 2027, and at Woodlands after that.

So until late 2027, some departure car lanes at Tuas are shut at any given time. If you chose Tuas to get away from the Woodlands queue, look at the Tuas cameras before you commit, not when you are already on the AYE.

Woodlands: redevelopment and road works

Woodlands is being rebuilt in phases over 10 to 15 years, ICA said in January 2024. The first phase is an extension at the Old Woodlands Town Centre with 78 arrival car lanes, which ICA says will raise arrival car clearance capacity by 95%, and an extension of the BKE so cars leaving the checkpoint can join it directly. It opens progressively from 2028, and ICA expects the extension and the old Woodlands checkpoint to be fully working together from 2032. Those are arrival lanes, so the gain is on the way home. Until then there is construction around the checkpoint, and ICA's 2026 advisories ask drivers to follow the traffic marshals, ICA officers and diversion signs near it.

How to check the queue before you leave

LTA's traffic cameras on OneMotoring

The traffic cameras page on OneMotoring is the quickest check. The page, last updated on 29 June 2026, now covers only three places: Woodlands Checkpoint, Tuas Checkpoint and Sentosa Gateway. Each checkpoint has three views, and every picture carries the date and time it was taken. Read that before you read the traffic, because a picture from an hour ago tells you very little.

ICA's advisories and updates

ICA's newsroom carries the advisories before each holiday. On the day, ICA points drivers to its Facebook and X accounts, to the Expressway Motoring and Advisory System (EMAS) signs along the BKE and AYE, and to traffic news on SPH and Mediacorp radio stations (ICA advisory, 3 August 2026).

The Johor side

For the drive home, the queue that matters is the Malaysian one. Malaysia's highway authority, LLM, has a highway camera page on llm.gov.my (Paparan CCTV Lebuh Raya) where you can choose E3, the Second Link Expressway, to see Second Link traffic on the road to KSAB. We have not found an official Malaysian camera for the Causeway approach in JB, so for Woodlands a live map app on your phone is the practical check.

Things that save time at the booth

Generate a MyICA QR code before you reach the checkpoint. One group QR code covers up to 10 people in the car, and ICA has used QR code clearance in full at both Woodlands and Tuas since January 2025. Everyone still carries a passport, because ICA may still ask to see it and it remains your travel document for Malaysia. Keep the stored-value card topped up and within reach for the toll.

What your car needs at either checkpoint

None of this changes with the checkpoint. The Singapore rules come from LTA and ICA, the Malaysian ones from JPJ.

The RFID readers are at the CIQ complexes on the Malaysian side, so BSI and KSAB read the same tag in the same way. JPJ's FAQ says that is also where you find out a tag is faulty: the reader cannot detect it and JPJ staff confirm it. A tag that is fitted but never activated is the expensive mistake. JPJ said on 1 July 2025 that owners of Singapore cars who fail to activate their tags are charged a RM300 compound under Section 66H(7) of the Road Transport Act 1987, and the car is not allowed to leave Malaysia until the compound is paid and the VEP is activated.

If any of that is still open, sort it before you worry about the route. Our SG to JB VEP checklist has the full list, the activation guide goes through the VEPAMS screens, and if your tag has failed at a gantry before, start with a VEP RFID tag that is not working.

Frequently asked questions

Is Tuas checkpoint faster than Woodlands?

Not on every day. PLUS says the Second Link route takes less time because traffic is smoother, but ICA's three-hour peak waits in 2026 cover both checkpoints, and parts of the Tuas departure car zone are closed in phases until late 2027. Check both sets of cameras on OneMotoring before you pick.

Which checkpoint is cheaper for a car?

Woodlands. LTA's toll for a car leaving through Woodlands is lower than through Tuas, and Woodlands charges nothing on the way back while Tuas charges again. Malaysia's RM20 road charge is the same at both.

Do I need anything different to use Tuas instead of Woodlands?

No. The same VEP, activated RFID tag and Touch 'n Go eWallet work at both, and LTA's exit rules, including the three-quarter tank, apply at both.

What is the best time to drive to JB and avoid the jam?

ICA suggests non-peak hours such as early mornings and late evenings. On weekdays MHA puts the heaviest traffic at 5am to 10am and 5pm to 9pm, and long weekends and school holidays are busier still.

How do I check Woodlands checkpoint traffic right now?

Open the traffic cameras page on OneMotoring and choose Woodlands Checkpoint. Check the timestamp on each picture, then look at the Woodlands Flyover view for the Singapore queue and the Causeway view for the bridge.

Can I drive to JB while my VEP application is still being processed?

No. A confirmation slip or a pending application is not a permit, and JPJ summons cars whose tags are registered but not activated. Our guide on travelling while a VEP is processing explains what to do instead.

Sources

• ICA: Use of QR code for immigration clearance at Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints (read 1 November 2026)
• ICA: Full implementation of QR code clearance at the land checkpoints (27 March 2025)
• ICA: Very heavy traffic expected at the land checkpoints for the upcoming Lunar New Year (6 February 2026)
• ICA: Continuous heavy traffic expected at the land checkpoints for the March school holidays and Hari Raya Puasa (9 March 2026)
• ICA: Heavy traffic expected at land checkpoints during National Day long weekend (3 August 2026)
• ICA: Heavy traffic expected at land checkpoints during upcoming September school holidays (31 August 2026)
• ICA: Woodlands Checkpoint to be redeveloped in phases, construction to commence in 2025 (29 January 2024)
• ICA: Diversion of larger cars to the bus lanes for immigration clearance at Tuas Checkpoint (3 January 2024)
• The Straits Times, republished by The Star: Car lane closures at Tuas Checkpoint from Sept 1 as automated immigration clearance works begin (26 August 2026)
• MHA: Written reply to parliamentary question on traffic volume and waiting times at Singapore-Malaysia land checkpoints (4 November 2019)
• MHA: Written reply to PQ on number of immigration counters at Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints (9 January 2023)
• MHA: Written reply to PQ on expansion of Woodlands Checkpoint (7 May 2024)
• LTA OneMotoring: Traffic cameras (page last updated 29 June 2026, read 1 November 2026)
• LTA OneMotoring: Vehicles registered in Singapore, exit requirements and checkpoint tolls (last updated 28 May 2025)
• PLUS: Our expressways, Malaysia-Singapore Second Link (Linkedua)
• Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM): Paparan CCTV Lebuh Raya, highway cameras including E3 (read 1 November 2026)
• Roots.gov.sg (National Heritage Board): The Johor-Singapore Causeway
• MOM: Public holidays 2026 (read 1 November 2026)
• MOE: School terms and holidays for 2026 (30 July 2025)
• JPJ Vehicle Entry Permit portal and FAQ (read 1 November 2026)
• Malay Mail: JPJ: Over 42,000 VEP tags of Singapore-registered vehicles not activated as of June 29 (1 July 2025)

Radiant VEP Solutions is not affiliated with JPJ. You can apply yourself for free at vep.jpj.gov.my. If you would rather hand the application over, or the tag still needs fitting and activating before your first trip through either checkpoint, our VEP application service can take it from here. JPJ makes the approval decision, so apply well before the date you plan to cross.