Cross-Border Buses from Singapore to Johor Bahru: Every Route, Fare and How the Border Walk Works

A cross-border bus is the cheapest motorised way between Singapore and Johor Bahru. Causeway Link publishes a maximum of RM2.60 or S$2.60 on CW1, against the fixed upfront fares of the cross-border Grab pilot reported by CNA, such as S$80 between Ban San and Larkin.

What the price does not buy is speed. These buses have no dedicated lane, so they sit in the same queue as the cars at Woodlands and Tuas, and on every one of them you get off at each checkpoint, walk between the immigration halls and queue again. A 45-minute bus estimate can be honest while the car queue reads 30, because walking clearance is time a driver never spends.

Every route on LTA's list (as of 1 October 2026)

The authoritative inventory is LTA's Cross-border Bus Services list, dated 1 October 2026 and published as a PDF at lta.gov.sg. Both tables below reproduce it, but routes, operators and termini change between quarters, so re-open the PDF before you build a commute on one service. It is a route inventory, not a timetable: frequencies and last departures are not in it.

Singapore-side operators running through to Johor, according to LTA's list dated 1 October 2026:

Malaysia-side services, run by Handal Indah under the Causeway Link brand:

Read the list closely and two cautions follow. Only CW1 and CW2 are marked "via Woodlands" and only CW7 is marked "Second Link", so LTA does not state which crossing the rest use; confirm it in the PDF or with the operator instead of inferring it from a terminus. And the TS services sit in one row with four Singapore termini and two Johor termini, so which of TS1, TS3, TS6 and TS8 covers your pair needs checking. JCNE, common in older guides, is not on this list at all.

Fares, and the two-currency quirk

The only figures you can use before you board are the maxima operators publish about themselves. Treat them as ceilings, not quoted prices.

LTA's list carries no fares, so for 160, 170, 170X, 950, the TS group, SJE, AC7 and WTS9 use operator signage and the operator's own channels. The documented detail is that SBS Transit's 170 accepts EZ-Link with the Singapore-leg fare in SGD: these journeys are priced as legs, not one flat border fare.

CW3 is where the quirk bites. The same journey is published at RM6.00 or S$5.00, and which figure applies depends on which side you board on, while CW1 and CW2 carry matching numerals in both currencies. A return is not simply double the outbound figure, so budget the higher published number and confirm the charge with the operator.

Payment splits the same way. Singapore-operated services take cash, EZ-Link or contactless; Malaysia-side Causeway Link services may use My50 or Manjalink tickets instead. Keep small change in both currencies.

How a bus crossing actually works, step by step

This is the part first-timers get wrong, and it is why a bus ETA and a car queue can both be true:

1. Board at the Singapore terminus. Some services sell or require tickets before clearance, so follow that operator's instructions.
2. Ride to the checkpoint in traffic, in the same queue as every car.
3. Alight at the Singapore exit hall. The bus does not clear for you; you do, with your passport or a valid MyICA QR.
4. Queue for exit immigration on foot and clear out of Singapore.
5. Walk the covered link between the two immigration halls, bag in hand.
6. Queue for entry immigration on the Malaysian side.
7. Find your boarding point on the far side and wait; the bus may be waiting, or arriving on a later run.
8. Re-board and ride to your Johor terminus.

Steps 3 to 7 are walking and standing, and they belong to the bus passenger but not to the driver in the next lane. That is the arithmetic behind a 45-minute bus range next to a 30-minute car queue: the car's number covers two drive-through clearance buildings, while yours adds two foot queues and the walk between them.

The directions are not symmetric either. Traffic-monitoring services describe a typical pattern — not an official schedule — of SG → JB being heaviest on weekday mornings around 6–9 am, Friday evenings around 5–10 pm and on holiday eves, while JB → SG is heaviest weekday late afternoon into evening around 3–8 pm, plus Sunday afternoon into night and Monday morning. The same CW service runs into two different problems, and the walking queues peak with them.

Which service to take, based on where you actually land

Start from the Johor-side destination, because that is the half the network is organised around. All routes below come from LTA's list dated 1 October 2026.

From the west, Jurong Town Hall BI is the hub for the southern Johor malls (160, CW3, CW4), Kranji MRT and Queen Street are the Larkin hubs (CW1, CW2, 170X, 170, SJE, CW5), and Changi Airport serves the TS group and WTS9.

The alternatives, briefly

The shuttle is the closest thing to a faster bus, but it lands you at Woodlands CIQ rather than at Johor's malls, so you still need onward transport at both ends. JB Sentral rail services have also had intermittent suspensions for RTS Link works, with shuttle buses provided, so check before counting on a rail leg.

The RTS Link is not running yet

This is worth stating plainly because the timing is so often wrong: as of October 2026 the Johor Bahru–Singapore RTS Link is not open. It has been delayed to February 2027, subject to safety certification, and LTA's own page still carried an end-2026 target, so treat February 2027 as the expectation rather than a promise. When it does open it will link Bukit Chagar in JB to Woodlands North, next to the existing MRT station, a roughly five-minute ride with capacity of up to 10,000 passengers per hour each way, and it changes the border in one structural way: travellers clear both countries' immigration at the departure station, so clearance happens before you board instead of between two halls.

Its fare and operating hours are not officially set. The S$5–7 per trip figure the Transport Minister mentioned is an estimate only, so anyone quoting an RTS fare to you as fact is guessing. Keep your bus plan in place until the line actually opens, rather than losing a morning at a station with no trains.

Practical checklist if you commute by bus

• Keep your passport reachable, not packed. You need it at two counters with your hands full. MyICA QR can replace the passport scan for bus travellers clearing immigration at Woodlands and Tuas, but first-time visitors to Singapore must still present a passport.
• SG Arrival Card: submit, do not print. As of October 2026 ICA requires the SGAC within three days including the day of arrival, except travellers transiting without clearance and Singapore citizens, Permanent Residents and Long-Term Pass Holders entering via land checkpoints. It is free, filed through the SGAC e-Service or MyICA app, linked electronically to your passport number, and needs no printout.
• Malaysia Digital Arrival Card if you are not exempt. Mandatory since 1 January 2024 and filed within three days before arrival. Singapore citizens are exempt, with diplomatic and official passport holders and Malaysian permanent residents — Singapore Permanent Residents are not. Check the Immigration Department announcement for your own status.
• Carry small change in both currencies. Cash still works on the Singapore-operated services, and the Malaysia-side services may run on My50 or Manjalink rather than your Singapore card.
• Check live conditions before you pick a boarding point. The bus sits in the same queue as the cars, so ask the same question: which crossing is moving in your direction right now. Compare the estimated ranges for Woodlands and Tuas side by side, look at the cameras and commuter reports, and check when each estimate was last updated — a stale number is history, not advice. BorderIQ shows both checkpoints in both directions.
• Know your last bus before you need it. LTA's list does not give departures, so confirm last-bus times with the operator on both sides. Then decide what you do if you miss it: a cross-border hire is priced very differently from a RM2.60 bus and only picks up at designated points. Malaysian counter hours are not published in a form worth relying on, so do not build an evening plan around a closing time you cannot verify.
• Do not count on walking the Causeway as a fallback. Woodlands serves pedestrians via the walkway and Tuas does not, but no official page publishes walkway hours, so check the current rule with ICA before setting off on foot.

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