Johor Bahru Transportation

Larkin in Johor Bahru is the southern gateway to Malaysia. It has connections to all parts of west Malaysia, the most frequent with almost 6 busses leaving for KL alone every hour or so.

Coming from Singapore, the best way to parts of Malaysia is to cross into Larkin. There are direct busses but the schedules are less impressive and there is no central bus station, besides the more expensive price in Spore dollars. Take to MRT to Kranji station and take the SBS bus no 170 all the way to Larkin. MRT and bus run from early morning to midnight. Else, take also Johor Singapore Express from Queen St bus station.

At Larkin, you will meet a lot of 'ulat', or worms - these are touts selling bus tickets. You have been warned not to use them whatever promises they make. Always buy a ticket from sellers behind the counters. A few ulat actually operate right in front of the counters! Some express counters are behind the front row, so shop around.

Transnasional is the biggest bus company with frequent departures and the widest network, so it's a good place to start. Some busses still use 2 + 2 seating, so don't be afraid to ask if you seek comfort.

If you take a taxi to or from Larkin, check if they use meter. Metered taxis at Larkin are found at the newly rennovated side, look for La Café cafe. It costs only RM5-6 to city.

From Larkin to Tioman, look for busses to Mersing, such as Transnasional, S & S or Causeway Link. Some Transnasional busses stop in front of Timotel, all others stop at the bus station. Either way, walk towards the round-about. Look for AmBank and KFC and follow the road till the jetty. Should take you about 10 minutes.

To KL, Transnasional has 17 trips per day. From personal experience, they are satisfactory. Most busses to KL will make a rest stop on the way normally in Yong Peng. Entire journey will take 4-5 hours. KKKL is another decent bus company although they have a habit of picking up passengers in Skudai and Tampoi which adds to journey time.

There is also a bus line to Senai Airport which helps you connect to Air Asia or Firefly.

Hi,
You can take bus from Johor to Melaka. Name of bus station in Johor is Larkin. Then you will reach in Melaka at Hentian Bus Ekspress, Jln Tun Ali.
The schedules are at 08.00 am, 02.00 PM or 04.00 PM. It travel approx 2 hours. Rate is 15 MYR approx. Many busses to Melaka. But what i told you before is Transnasional Bus. Hope it is helpfull.
Happy travelling

The Johor-Singapore Causeway is a 1km causeway that links the city of Johor Baru across the Straits of Johor to Woodlands in Singapore... It serves as a road, rail, and pedestrian link, as well as water piping into Singapore... It is the first land link between the 2 countries until the 1998 opening of the Second Link between Tuas (in Singapore) and Tanjung Kupang (in Malaysia)...

The Johor-Singapore Causeway was completed in 1923 after four years of construction... There is a channel for water to flow between the two sides of the Causeway... It was partially destroyed in 1942 during World War 2, to prevent the Japanese army from invading Singapore... However, it was rebuilt once the Japanese had captured the island...

With the increasing number of Malaysian going to work in Singapore from Johor Baru, the Causeway is in perpetual jam during the peak hours... This can be stretched to more than 3 hours on long weekends...

The new CIQ at Bukit Chagar was opened on December 15, 2008 to replace the old deplorable condition of the existing CIQ at the end of the causeway from Singapore into Johor Baru... The new CIQ (called the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) complex promises to be much more spacious... It houses impressive checkpoint facilities - with 38 lanes for cars, 50 motorcycle lanes and 18 lanes for buses... There is a "temporary" slip road from the causeway leading to the CIQ... Hopefully, it will much more efficient in handling visitors from the island republic...

Drivers from Singapore should note that only Touch n Go pre-paid cards are accepted for payment of toll charges at the Bukit Chagar CIQ...

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For a small city like Johor Bahru, the traffic is notorious. Roads are clogged with heavy traffic during rush hours and on weekends when Singaporeans flock to this city for cheaper food and grocery.

Some of the terrible traffic hotspots are Pasir Gudang Highway, the Causeway and Jalan Skudai. It gets worse when there is a heavy downpour especially in December/ January which is when the monsoon hits. In the 2006/07 monsoon season, Johor Bahru city was paralyzed on separate occassions when flash floods hit almost all major roads in the city causing traffic snarls which lasted for hours.

If it is a weekend or a public holiday, you are returning Singapore with your car and it is heavily congested, don't need to worry.Use the lorry customs at Tanjung Puteri.It is open to cars at a certain timings.The timing for the usage of cars at Tanjung Puteri are as follow.
Saturday,
7pm-12am
Sunday and Malaysia/Singapore public holidays:
1pm-12am
But do beware of the poth-holy and dark and narrow roads at the customs.
Directions:
At Tebrau Highway , there will be signs written "Kompleks Kastam Lori" on a signboard along the road heading to Singapore. Follow the sign and go all the way straight until you come to a T- junction. At the T-junction, turn right and head into the car lane for customs.

The taxis in Johor Bahru have the tend to cheat their customers by not using the meter. Result is that you pay twice or tripple the normal price. You can ask the taxi driver to use the taxi meter when you get into the car. All cabs have a taxi meter installed as required by law. If he does not want to do so, then take another taxi. Don't use cabs with a fixed price because the most times it's by taxi meter much cheaper.

Doing a day trip to Johore Bahru (JB) from Singapore is easy. JB is good for sea food, shopping and spending a day may not be difficult. You can either take a taxi (it can seat 4 people and cost S$10 per person) from Taxi stand at Queen Street (near Bugis MRT Station) Their phone number at Singapore is 6293 7054 and 6293 5546. You will get very useful info on JB at this web page http://wikitravel.org/en/Johor_Bahru
You can easily go in the morning and comeback in the evening. Expect some slow movement of traffic at Singapore immigration.