Singapore Expats

My wife will attend a workshop in JB, Taman Desa Tebrau area. It's a few days workshop and she is going to travel there from SG to be at the venue each day around 9am. Later (probably late afternoons) she is going back to SG.

What would be the best way to do it? Taxis preferred but if there is some more convenient way than of course, please mention it.

Can she expense the costs, or afford it on her own tab, if so taxi?
or
DIY - MRT to Woodlands MRT and then take the SBS bus over

I though SG taxis are not allowed to cross the border but I have seen many times what appeared to be a JB taxi-like cars in SG, specifically around the area adjacent to the flea/thieves market / Sungei Rd.

Also no problem (in principle) to go to W. check point, cross the causeway by bus and take a JB cab from there, but I was wondering if there are any other, more direct options to be used, i.e. SG based cabs (or alike) that can do door to door service.

Taxi - $48 Bugis > JB, RM80 back http://www.taxisingapore.com/singapore-to-johor-bahru/

Other hits came up that I haven't read in detail...
http://www.sgmytaxi.com/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... Johor.html
http://www.singaporemalaysiataxi.com/ This one quotes $40 there, RM60 back (Bugis <> downtown JB)

The bus from Woodlands over, IIRC was SBS no.170. You hop off at the border at immigration (keep your bus ticket!, or maybe you just re-tap your MRT card these days, I'm not sure), and once you're through hop back onto *any* SBS170 heading to JB that comes along heading into town. [Or walk from the JB check-point into downtown JB - not a pleasant stroll (dusty/noisy/chaotic) but very short].

If on expenses my suggestion is go by taxi. If not, then go by MRT to Woodlands and bus over. The latter will be more stressful esp. the first time you do it, as the crossing can be a hell of a zoo and it's a bit of a learning curve.

A middle-path if not on expenses, taxi there (as some assurance re: time of arrival etc might be more critical), then when returning and there are less time-constraints, bus and MRT back...

Please [OP] let us know how she gets on.

You want the Singapore-Johor express terminal on Sungei Road at Arab Street - taxis there are licensed to cross the border. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Singa ... d4f6499c0a

JR8, I think that immigration is much farther away from the town now... a corridor leads north to new facilities... at least this is true for cars and motorbikes... no more stopping right across the bridge.

Ah ok noted. [Quite possibly, last time I did the MRT/bus crossing was about c5 years ago].

Strong Eagle wrote:You want the Singapore-Johor express terminal on Sungei Road at Arab Street - taxis there are licensed to cross the border. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Singa ... d4f6499c0a

JR8, I think that immigration is much farther away from the town now... a corridor leads north to new facilities... at least this is true for cars and motorbikes... no more stopping right across the bridge.

I am pretty sure you cant get a cab just to anywhere in JB, you will get dropped at the central taxi poing and from there you will need to get another local cab to your destination.

Barnsley wrote:

Strong Eagle wrote:You want the Singapore-Johor express terminal on Sungei Road at Arab Street - taxis there are licensed to cross the border. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Singa ... d4f6499c0a

JR8, I think that immigration is much farther away from the town now... a corridor leads north to new facilities... at least this is true for cars and motorbikes... no more stopping right across the bridge.

I am pretty sure you cant get a cab just to anywhere in JB, you will get dropped at the central taxi poing and from there you will need to get another local cab to your destination.

Those queen street taxis, if you take the whole taxi ($40 ?,) they were ok to drop you anywhere ... I have got dropped off in Straits View and Permas Jaya.

Some SMRT taxis have permit to JB and they too drop off anywhere (or almost ... )

JR8 wrote: If on expenses my suggestion is go by taxi. If not, then go by MRT to Woodlands and bus over. The latter will be more stressful esp. the first time you do it, as the crossing can be a hell of a zoo and it's a bit of a learning curve.

The morning crowd is heading to Singapore and evening, reverse.

Having had a switch in JB, it used to be a breeze going to JB in the mornings, pretty fast. And that's via Woodlands

Thanks for the responses. So far wifey just DIY, SG cab to W.Checkpoint, a bus across the causeway, and JB cab within JB. She found it too expensive for the cross-border cabs especially with one location fixed. A bit of the problem is on the way back to SG to get a JB cab at the location she stays.

BTW, what is an average waiting time to cross the border (Woodlands) heading from SG to JB, around 5pm and back, JB-SG ~6pm, wekkdays?

x9200 wrote:Thanks for the responses. So far wifey just DIY, SG cab to W.Checkpoint, a bus across the causeway, and JB cab within JB. She found it too expensive for the cross-border cabs especially with one location fixed. A bit of the problem is on the way back to SG to get a JB cab at the location she stays.

In the old JB Check point, MY plate cars used to pass the MY immigration and wait at the side, to pick passengers to SG, for a fixed rate of 20 $ to anywhere in SG With the new Check point, that option is gone I guess .. 20 $ is a lot of money for Malaysian cars coming in to SG - agreed safety etc ..

If she's going to do it for few days, maybe try Grabtaxi or Grab Car.

x9200 wrote:BTW, what is an average waiting time to cross the border (Woodlands) heading from SG to JB, around 5pm and back, JB-SG ~6pm, wekkdays?

Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. As I said, the crowd is in the opposite side, so traffic to SG is mostly the FnB Crew coming to work, which is much lesser than the morning crowd of 100,000 or so.

Thanks Ecu, but I need to know for both ways. I may go by our car to pick her up on her way back, but if the waiting time is at any point longer than say, 30min my kid I have to take with me will get insane strapped in the sit. So in the other words:

1) how long to cross the border from SG to JB, ~5pm?
2) how long to cross the border from JB to SG, ~5pm?
Both woodlands.

x9200 wrote: 1) how long to cross the border from SG to JB, ~5pm?
2) how long to cross the border from JB to SG, ~5pm?
Both woodlands.

5PM - SG - JB ? oh ho - not gonna hazard a guess.

5 PM - JB - SG ? As I said, not more than 15 minutes, on a bad day. The 15 minutes is mostly walking up and down the Immigration counters. Very less time in the queue. Plus, Singapore side - it will be auto gate.

The longest I spent in traversing the JB-SG distance was not more than 30 minutes, on a Friday - Fridays see Malaysian some cars coming to SG, to take advantage of weekend free pass.

ecureilx wrote:

x9200 wrote: 1) how long to cross the border from SG to JB, ~5pm?
2) how long to cross the border from JB to SG, ~5pm?
Both woodlands.

5PM - SG - JB ? oh ho - not gonna hazard a guess.

That what I was thinking. Plus, I have no money on my touch&go card so some extra time to top it up too. Ok, lets see how she is going to manage it today.

Tell her to use uber or myteksi in JB if struggling to get a cab


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