WITH school holidays currently underway, Miri, Sarawak is still a popular holiday destination for Bruneians, with some even opting to rent buses as a more convenient mode of transportation.
"More people used the toll this month than in any other months," said Marzuki Yussof, supervisor of the Rasau toll in Belait.
"On a normal day, only 500 vehicles pass through but now especially on weekends, more than 1,000 vehicles have been recorded," he said, adding that this is a common scenario from Friday till Sunday.
"Even though people can go to Limbang and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, they still go to Miri because they don't like the hassle of queuing up at the Kuala Lurah border," commented the supervisor, who has been working for seven years.
Moreover, this trend might be attributed to cheaper hotel rates, attractive activities in Miri and lower exchange rates, he told The Brunei Times yesterday. A large number of visitors prefer to stay overnight, thus the long queues seen every Saturday afternoon. He said that there has also been an increasing number of Bruneians renting buses to Miri for the past few months.
"This might be to avoid car thefts which are quite common and it is more economical for them to collectively pay $20 for a single bus, compared to $3 per person in their own vehicles."
During weekends, they recorded an average of about five buses passing through in a single day.
"But this trend is only seen among Bruneians who prefer to shop overseas, but in the case of incoming vehicles from Malaysia they normally pass through Brunei just to get to Limbang and Kota Kinabalu," Marzuki said based on his observations.
For the first five months of this year, a previous news report stated that a total of 365,190 visitors passed through the Sg Tujoh Immigration Post, a decrease of 126,774 visitors compared to the same period last year. Of this decrease, 80 per cent of the travellers were Bruneians.
He advised the public to pay their toll as required by law. "One of our problems is that a number of people like to cheat their way so they don't have to pay the amount required," he said.
"Some people admit they live in a nearby village to avoid paying it. There was even a case once where we chased the driver when we found out he was cheating," he said.
Passing vehicles are required to pay $3 per car, $1 for motorcycles, an amount of $5 for taxis, while pick-up trucks are obliged to pay $10 and $20 for buses. According to the Road Traffic Act, a person who falsely claimed that he has paid the toll fees may be penalised up to $1,000, maximum three months imprisonment or both. A second offence warrants a maximum fine of $2,000, maximum of six months imprisonment or both.
No comments:
Post a Comment