LTA, Singapore bus operators reviewing Malaysia's request to start services from JB at 4am
Commuters queue to board the Causeway Link bus to Johor Bahru on April 9.
SINGAPORE – The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Singapore bus operators are reviewing a request from Malaysia to start operating cross-border bus services from Johor Bahru an hour earlier.
LTA told The Straits Times on July 29 that it had received a request from Malaysia's Land Public Transport Agency on June 17 to start operating cross-border bus services earlier and that it is 'working with our bus operators to review the request'.
These operators are public bus companies SBS Transit (SBST) and SMRT and some private bus operators.
Malaysian news daily The Star said on July 24 that the Land Public Transport Agency is in talks with LTA to ask Singapore's bus operators to start services at 4am, instead of 5am.
According to The Star, Johor state Works, Transportation, Infrastructure and Communication Committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said long queues of Singapore-bound passengers would form at the Johor Bahru Checkpoint at 4am, so he hopes that an earlier start time would tackle the pre-dawn rush.
SBST currently operates service 160 from Johor Bahru Checkpoint, with departures starting at 5am on weekdays and 5.50am on weekends or public holidays.
It also runs service 170 between Larkin Terminal in Johor Bahru and Queen Street Terminal near Jalan Besar, with departures starting from 5.20am on weekdays and 5.30am on weekends or public holidays.
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Service 170X – a supplementary service that plies only a section of service 170's route – is also run by SBST, with the first bus leaving Johor Bahru at 8.28am on weekdays.
Additionally, SMRT operates service 950 across the Causeway from Johor Bahru Checkpoint towards the Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange. No information on the starting times for its Singapore-bound service is publicly available, but the Johor Bahru-bound service departs from Woodlands at 5.30am every day.
Other private bus operators, including Singapore-Johore Express, Ridewell Travel and Transtar Travel, ply routes from Larkin Bus Terminal and Johor Bahru Checkpoint to Singapore.
ST has contacted all public and private bus operators for comment. SMRT and SBST directed these queries to LTA.
Associate Professor Walter Theseira, a transport economist at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said it may be more costly and logistically challenging to operate cross-border bus services outside the usual scheduled hours.
This is because public bus operators face labour constraints, he added. It would be more difficult to offer services at earlier start times as drivers may not want to accept these shifts, and it would affect manpower planning for the rest of the day.
And these operational constraints may lead to higher fares, noted Prof Theseira, since buses operating outside scheduled hours are typically expected to cover a larger share of costs from fares – as in the case of the now-defunct late-night bus services, which charged higher fares of above $4.
He noted that there may also be concerns from Singaporeans about providing more subsidies so that public transport operators can start their cross-border services earlier because they would primarily benefit Malaysians working in Singapore.
While private operators can also adjust the operating hours of such services, he said they must be able to make profits to offer extended services.
Malaysians who cross the Causeway daily to get to work in Singapore, such as Mr Eerman Dzulkurnai, 39, said he would be happy to have potentially more cross-border bus services to use as he typically gets to Johor Bahru Checkpoint by around 4am to avoid getting stuck in traffic and be able to arrive at his workplace in Pioneer by 9am.
The information technology support officer noted that by 6am, there are usually snaking queues, and it can take travellers one hour to squeeze onto a bus to Singapore.
He added that early on the morning of July 21, when bus drivers under Malaysian bus operator Causeway Link went on strike, he was left with no choice but to walk 30 minutes across the Causeway.
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