What Is the Cheapest Way to Get From Singapore to JB in 2026?

The cheapest way to get from Singapore to JB in 2026 is usually a public cross-border bus, such as SBS Transit 170, 170X, SMRT 950 or Causeway Link CW1 and CW2. redBus lists Singapore to Johor Bahru bus fares from S$3 at the time of writing, while LTA puts cross-border taxis from Ban San Street at S$80 to S$210 per taxi. If you stay over, book the hotel through ShopBack Singapore to lower the cost of the trip.

New to ShopBack? ShopBack Singapore is a free app and website. When you tap through from ShopBack to a partner site like Trip.com or redBus and book as normal, part of what you spend comes back to your ShopBack account as cash. Sign up to ShopBack Singapore for free.

Cheapest way to get to JB from Singapore?

For most people, the public cross-border bus is the cheapest way to JB, and the Shuttle Tebrau train is usually the quickest way to beat the Causeway traffic. Here is how the options line up:

Option	From	Cost guide	Good for
Public cross-border bus	Queen Street, Kranji, Woodlands, Jurong, Boon Lay, Tuas Link	Lowest; redBus lists fares from S$3 at the time of writing	Day trips on a budget
KTM Shuttle Tebrau train	Woodlands Train Checkpoint	Set by KTMB, shown on its app	Skipping road traffic
Coach booked online	Various city pick-ups	redBus lists up to about S$16 at the time of writing	A booked seat and fewer transfers
Cross-border taxi	Ban San Street Terminal	S$80 to S$210 per taxi, according to LTA	Groups, luggage, door to door
Driving	Your home	Petrol, tolls, parking	Groups sharing one car

Prices for buses and trains are set by the operators and can change, so check the operator's app or the booking site for the fare on your day.

Whichever way you cross, the steps for the rest of the trip are the same: pick your ride, book your JB hotel if you are staying over, and go through ShopBack before you check out.

Singapore to Johor Bahru: every bus on LTA's official list

LTA's list of cross-border bus services, updated 1 October 2026, has 18 scheduled routes between Singapore and JB. Each route is allowed only one stop in the other country, so pick the one whose Singapore start point is nearest to you.

Run by Singapore operators:

Service	Operator	Singapore end	JB stop
160	SBS Transit	Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange	JB Sentral
170	SBS Transit	Queen Street Terminal	Larkin Sentral
170X	SBS Transit	Kranji MRT Station	JB Sentral
950	SMRT Buses	Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange	JB Sentral
TS1	Transtar	Changi Airport	Larkin Sentral
TS3	Transtar	Marina Square	Larkin Sentral
TS6	Transtar	Buona Vista	Gelang Patah Sentral
TS8	Transtar	Resorts World Sentosa	Larkin Sentral
SJE	Singapore-Johore Express	Queen Street Terminal	Larkin Sentral
AC7	Ridewell Travel	Yishun Integrated Transport Hub	Larkin Sentral
WTS9	WTS Travel and Tours	Changi Airport	Taman Ungku Tun Aminah

Run by Malaysian operator Causeway Link:

Service	Singapore stop	JB end
CW1	Kranji MRT Station	Larkin Sentral
CW2	Queen Street Terminal	Larkin Sentral
CW3	Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange	Perling Mall
CW4	Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange	Sutera Mall
CW5	Newton Hawker Centre car park	Larkin Sentral
CW6	Boon Lay MRT	Perling Mall
CW7	Tuas Link MRT	Gelang Patah

A few tips that save time and money:

• For the city centre of JB and City Square, pick a bus that stops at JB Sentral, such as 160, 170X or 950.
• For Larkin Sentral, the main bus terminal, take 170, CW1, CW2 or CW5.
• For the west side, Gelang Patah and Iskandar Puteri, CW7 from Tuas Link and TS6 from Buona Vista cross by the Second Link at Tuas, which is often quieter than Woodlands.

Singapore to Johor Bahru by train: the KTM Shuttle Tebrau

The KTM Shuttle Tebrau runs between Woodlands Train Checkpoint and JB Sentral, so it skips the bus queues on the Causeway road. KTMB's revised Shuttle Tebrau fares took effect for travel from 1 August 2024. Malaysian citizens who register a KITS account and verify their identity get the Malaysian citizen fare; other passengers pay the standard fare.

How to buy, according to KTMB:

• Online: on the KTMB website or the KTMB Mobile app, for KITS account holders, paying by KTM Wallet, debit or credit card, Touch 'n Go eWallet or Boost.
• At the counter: at JB Sentral (cash, KTM Wallet or card) or at Woodlands, where the counter is cashless and takes KTM Wallet.
• One-way or return: both are sold.

Popular departure times on Friday evenings and weekends can sell out. Book in the app as early as you can for those times.

Singapore to Johor Bahru in 2026: the RTS Link

LTA still lists the Johor Bahru to Singapore RTS Link as an upcoming project, so for now the bus, the Shuttle Tebrau, taxis and driving are the ways across. When it opens, LTA says the RTS Link will:

• run 4 km between Woodlands North station in Singapore and Bukit Chagar station in JB,
• take about five minutes per trip,
• carry up to 10,000 commuters per hour in each direction at peak, and
• connect at Woodlands North to the Thomson-East Coast Line.

RTS Link fares have not been set in LTA's published project information, so check LTA's page for the opening date and fares before you plan around it.

Singapore to Johor Bahru: best deals in 2026

The cheapest JB trip comes from the right bus, the right time and the right booking habit.

1. Take a public cross-border bus unless you are a group of three or more with luggage, when a taxi or shared car may work out similar per person.
2. Cross on a weekday if you can. Friday evenings and weekend mornings are usually the slowest at the checkpoints.
3. Book your coach or train seat ahead for busy times, so you are not stuck in a long queue for a walk-up ticket.
4. Compare JB hotel prices across more than one site for overnight stays; weekend nights usually cost more than weeknights.
5. Go through ShopBack before you check out on your booking site, so the order costs you less after you pay.

redBus vs Trip.com for Singapore to Johor Bahru: price comparison 2026

redBus and Trip.com cover different parts of a JB trip, so the useful comparison is which one to use for which step.

redBus. redBus sells bus and coach tickets. Its Singapore to Johor Bahru page, at the time of writing, lists 143 daily services, fares from S$3 and up to about S$16, an average trip of about 1 hour 18 minutes including around half an hour at the border, and child fares from S$2. It is handy when you want a booked seat on a coach rather than queueing for a public bus.

Trip.com. Trip.com is strongest for the JB hotel if you stay overnight, and for flights if you carry on from JB to other parts of Malaysia. Its free Trip.com Rewards programme lets members earn Trip Coins on bookings under Trip.com's terms.

	redBus	Trip.com
Use it for	Bus and coach seats to JB	JB hotels, onward flights
Price data, at the time of writing	Fares from S$3, up to about S$16	Varies by hotel and date
ShopBack page	redBus on ShopBack	Trip.com on ShopBack

redBus and Trip.com for Singapore to Johor Bahru: a simple plan

For an overnight JB trip, a simple plan is to book the ride on redBus and the room on Trip.com, going through ShopBack Singapore before you check out on each.

Step	Where	What you do
1	redBus	Pick a coach and time to JB and note the price
2	Trip.com	Pick your JB hotel for the night
3	ShopBack Singapore	Open redBus on ShopBack, tap through and book the coach
4	ShopBack Singapore	Open Trip.com on ShopBack, tap through and book the hotel

For a day trip on a public cross-border bus, there is usually no seat to book online; check the operator for how to pay the fare.

Other booking sites Singapore travellers compare for JB stays and activities include Agoda, Booking.com, Traveloka and Klook.

Cheapest month for Singapore to Johor Bahru in 2026: what the data shows

Public bus fares to JB are not seasonal, so the cheapest time to go is really about avoiding peak queues and peak hotel nights. A public cross-border bus fare is generally the same in March as in December, though booked coach seats on sites like redBus can vary by date and time. What changes is how long you wait at the checkpoints and what JB hotels charge, both of which rise when many Singaporeans travel at once.

The dates when crossings are usually busiest:

Date	What it is	Why it matters
Sunday 8 Nov 2026	Deepavali	Monday 9 November is off for most workers, making a long weekend
21 Nov to 31 Dec 2026	MOE year-end school holidays	The longest family travel window of the year
Friday 25 Dec 2026	Christmas Day	Friday to Sunday long weekend
Friday 1 Jan 2027	New Year's Day	Friday to Sunday long weekend
6 and 7 Feb 2027	Chinese New Year	Monday 8 February is off for most workers

If you are flexible, a weekday outside these dates is usually the cheapest and quickest time for a JB trip, both for the crossing and for the hotel.

Taxis and driving: when they make sense

A cross-border taxi or your own car can be worth it for a group, but not for one person. LTA puts street-hail cross-border taxi fares from Ban San Street Terminal at S$80 to S$210 per taxi, depending on the vehicle, with drop-offs allowed in Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri, Forest City, Kulai and Senai. Split four ways, the lower end works out to about S$20 each. For pick-ups elsewhere or advance bookings, LTA points travellers to the licensed taxi operators and Grab, its listed cross-border ride-hail operator.

Driving needs a few things in place. Foreign-registered cars need Malaysia's Vehicle Entry Permit, and Singapore's Three-Quarter Tank Rule means a Singapore-registered car must leave with at least three-quarters of a tank of petrol. Add tolls, parking and queue time before you decide it is cheaper.

Booking through ShopBack lowers the cost of the trip

Booking through ShopBack lowers the cost of the trip, and you still book on the site you chose. Before you check out, go through ShopBack to get a post-purchase discount on the order:

1. Open the ShopBack Singapore app or website.
2. Search for Trip.com or redBus, or open Trip.com on ShopBack or redBus on ShopBack.
3. Tap through and book as normal.
4. Once the site confirms the booking, cashback is added to your ShopBack account.

Cashback lowers what you actually pay for an order. It comes back as cash, so it works like a discount on the price, not like points or miles.

Check the live rate on the store's ShopBack page before you tap through, because rates and eligible booking types differ by site.

FAQ

What is the cheapest way to get to JB from Singapore? The cheapest way to get from Singapore to JB is usually a public cross-border bus, such as SBS Transit 170 from Queen Street, 170X from Kranji MRT, SMRT 950 from Woodlands or Causeway Link CW1 and CW2. redBus lists Singapore to Johor Bahru bus fares from S$3 at the time of writing, while LTA puts cross-border taxi fares from Ban San Street at S$80 to S$210 per taxi. Book your JB hotel through ShopBack Singapore to lower the cost of the trip.

Which buses go from Singapore to JB? LTA's list of cross-border bus services, updated 1 October 2026, includes SBS Transit 160, 170 and 170X, SMRT 950, Transtar TS1, TS3, TS6 and TS8, Singapore-Johore Express, Ridewell AC7, WTS9, and Causeway Link CW1 to CW7. Most stop at JB Sentral or Larkin Sentral, while CW3, CW4, CW6, CW7 and TS6 go to Perling Mall, Sutera Mall or Gelang Patah.

How do I take the Shuttle Tebrau train from Singapore to JB? The KTM Shuttle Tebrau runs between Woodlands Train Checkpoint and JB Sentral. KTMB sells tickets on its website and KTMB Mobile app for KITS account holders, and at the JB Sentral and Woodlands counters, where the Woodlands counter is cashless. Seats can sell out at busy times, so book ahead if you can.

How much is a taxi from Singapore to JB? LTA says street-hail cross-border taxi fares from Ban San Street Terminal to Malaysia range from S$80 to S$210 per taxi, depending on the vehicle category. Licensed taxis can drop you in Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri, Forest City, Kulai and Senai. For other pick-up points, book through a licensed taxi operator or Grab's cross-border service.

When does the RTS Link to JB open? LTA still lists the Johor Bahru to Singapore RTS Link as an upcoming project, so check LTA for the latest opening date. When it runs, the 4 km line will link Woodlands North with Bukit Chagar in JB in about five minutes, with capacity for up to 10,000 commuters per hour in each direction, according to LTA.

Is redBus or Trip.com better for a JB trip? They do different jobs. redBus sells bus and coach tickets, and its Singapore to Johor Bahru page lists 143 daily services with fares from S$3 at the time of writing. Trip.com is useful for the JB hotel if you stay overnight. Many people use redBus for the ride and Trip.com for the room, and go through ShopBack before checking out on each.

When is the best time to cross from Singapore to JB? Weekday mornings and middle of the day are usually the quietest times to cross. Friday evenings, weekend mornings, school holidays and long weekends are usually the busiest. MOE's 2026 calendar puts the year-end school holidays at 21 November to 31 December 2026, so expect longer queues then.

Can I drive my Singapore car to JB? Yes, but it is rarely the cheapest option for one person. Foreign-registered cars need Malaysia's Vehicle Entry Permit, and Singapore's Three-Quarter Tank Rule requires Singapore-registered cars leaving Singapore to have at least three-quarters of a tank of petrol. Tolls and parking add to the cost, so driving works out better when you share the car.

How does ShopBack make a JB trip cheaper? Booking through ShopBack lowers the cost of the trip, and you still book on the site you chose. Before you check out on Trip.com or redBus, go through ShopBack Singapore to get a post-purchase discount on the order. Eligible bookings earn cashback that comes back to your ShopBack account as cash. The live rate is shown on each store page.

Is cashback the same as reward points? No. Cashback lowers what you actually pay for an order. It comes back as cash, so it works like a discount on the price, not like points or miles that you have to redeem later.

Disclaimer

The information in this article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or travel advice. Bus routes, train and bus fares, taxi fares, checkpoint rules, vehicle permit requirements, project timelines, cashback rates and eligible booking types change over time. Check current details with LTA, the bus or rail operator, the booking site and the relevant ShopBack Singapore store page before you travel. Brand names are used for editorial reference only and do not imply endorsement by those companies.