Long queues to collect TraceTogether tokens

National distribution of TraceTogether tokens resumes in a limited fashion

Marsiling residents collecting their TraceTogether tokens at the Marsiling Community Club yesterday. It is the first collection venue where tokens are available again, after distribution was halted on Wednesday.
Marsiling residents collecting their TraceTogether tokens at the Marsiling Community Club yesterday. It is the first collection venue where tokens are available again, after distribution was halted on Wednesday. ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

Long queues formed at Marsiling Community Club yesterday as national distribution of TraceTogether tokens resumed in a limited fashion.

Marsiling is the first community centre where tokens are available again, after distribution was halted on Wednesday by the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG).

New collection venues will be opened one constituency at a time following reports of long queues at some community centres/clubs (CCs) last weekend.

There were already about 100 people in the queue when The Straits Times visited the Marsiling CC at 9.45am yesterday. Crowds continued to pour in even at 11.30am.

Five counters were set up in a hall, with one set aside for the elderly and physically infirm. The waiting time for collection ranged from 30 minutes to an hour.

Several people thought they had only one day to collect the tokens.

"I came today because I read the (TokenGoWhere) website wrongly and thought the date listed was the only date," said a resident, who wanted to be known only as Madam Tan. "If I had known, I might have come another day."

Retiree Ismail Ibrahim, 57, waited for around 45 minutes to collect four tokens for himself and his family.

"Today is the first day (of collection) so people are going to come down," said the Marsiling resident, who prefers the TraceTogether token to the app as he is trying to cut down his phone usage.

Retiree Velaitham Pillai, 78, also queued for 45 minutes.

"I could have come on another day when there were not so many people but I just wanted to collect (the token) early," he said.

The remaining 107 CCs in other constituencies will be progressively opened for token collection between this month and December.

The schedule is available on the Token Go Where website.

Collection at all CCs will continue until the end of the year, and is not limited to one day.

Residents have also been told that they should collect tokens only from the CC in the constituency where they live.

This means that Marine Parade residents, for example, can get their hands on a token only from Dec 14.

Token distribution initially kicked off last month, and had been expanded to 38 CCs before Wednesday's halt.

An SNDGG spokesman said the changes to its distribution plan were to "prevent long queues from developing by residents from different parts of Singapore coming to the same collection points".

"TraceTogether-only SafeEntry will be enforced only when everyone who needs a token is able to collect one at a CC near them," the spokesman added.

"All CCs will be distributing tokens by the second half of December, so residents need not rush to collect their tokens."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 30, 2020, with the headline Long queues to collect TraceTogether tokens. Subscribe