Singapore and Johor Bahru Cross-border bus, taxi services to resume from 1 May 2022
On April 22nd, Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that the Land Transport Authority (LTA), along with all public transport operators, will resume their service to bring travellers across the land border on May 1st.
This announcement means that all cross-border bus and taxi services will finally resume their business after a long break of 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This follows the reopening of Singapore and Malaysia land borders for fully vaccinated travellers since April 1st.
Cross-border bus services between the two countries that will resume their business includes Services 160, 170 and 170X operated by SBS Transit, Service 950 operated by SMRT Buses, and Services TS1, TS3, TS6 and TS8 operated by Transtar Travel.
“Since the beginning of April 2022, bus operators have been recruiting, redeploying and training their drivers and conducting route familiarization after a two-year break. These services have not been operating since March 2020,” said LTA in a separate press release.
“The operating hours for Services 160, 170, 170X and 950 will be the same as before, which is from 5.20am to 12.30am,” said LTA. “The frequency of the bus services will also be the same.”
Services 160, 170 and 950 will be available every 20 minutes during peak hours and 25 minutes during off-peak hours. As for Service 170X, it will have a bus available every 9 minutes during peak hours and up to 17 minutes during off-peak hours.
Travellers can check the schedule via the MyTransport.SG app or operator’s websites.
As bus services will recover their operations back to pre-COVID times starting May 1st, the Vaccinated Travel Bus services operated by Transtar Travel and Handal Indah will stop on the same day.
As for taxi services, commuters that want to have a ride to Johor can either board a taxi at the Queen Street taxi terminal, or book one through taxi companies with licensed cross-border taxi drivers.
“The Land Transport Authority is also working closely with its Malaysia counterpart Agensi Pengangkutan Awam Darat (APAD) to resume cross-border taxi services,” said LTA.
“All travellers are reminded to comply with travel requirements of Singapore and Malaysia to ensure smooth immigration clearance.”
On April 22nd, S Iswaran, Minister of Transport, also posted a Facebook post to seek patience and understanding from Singaporeans and travellers.
“Our partners in air, land and sea transport are working hard to scale up their manpower and operations to manage higher traveller volumes, especially during the upcoming May Day-Hari Raya Puasa long weekend, and the June school holidays,” he said.
“As we continue to reopen our borders to secure our position as a global aviation hub, we will closely monitor the local and global public health situation and remain ready to reinstate tighter public health measures when necessary, in consultation with the Ministry of Health.”
Mr. Iswaran also urged all Singaporeans and residents to be aware of the current COVID-19 situation in the countries and regions they are visiting, to be well-informed and updated on the latest public health and border measures, and to be prepared for any future changes.