Every month, Rachel Tan, a 53-year-old Singaporean tutor, boards a bus across the 1km (0.6 mile) causeway for a day trip to Malaysia’s Johor state, where she stocks up on groceries and treats herself to lunch and a film.
Thanks to streamlined immigration procedures, she rarely needs to present her passport, using a QR code to pass the checkpoint before catching a complimentary shuttle bus that whisks her to R&F Mall.
The entire day out, including shopping, typically costs her about 300 ringgit (US$70) – a fraction of the price for a similar experience in Singapore.
“Since I need to go somewhere to relax on my off day, why not go somewhere where it is more affordable?” she told This Week in Asia, noting that her 10-ringgit cinema ticket would be unheard of back home, where watching a film often costs five times as much.
