{"id":35657,"date":"2026-03-12T13:34:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=35657"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:34:35","slug":"in-malaysia-regular-commuters-to-singapore-hope-for-lower-rts-fare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=35657","title":{"rendered":"In Malaysia, regular commuters to Singapore hope for lower RTS fare"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">JOHOR BAHRU \u2013 Regular commuters in Malaysia travelling to Singapore are hoping for lower Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link ticket prices than those proposed by the Transport Ministry. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Telecommunications store manager Habeebamma Hajamahideen, 33, said while she is eagerly awaiting the start of the RTS operations, she found the proposed fee of RM15.50 (S$5) to RM21.70 per trip too steep.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cI think a fair ticket price would be RM10 from Johor Bahru to Singapore and $10 for the return trip,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ms Habeebamma said the RTS trip will take only about six minutes for each direction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cCurrently, it takes up to an hour to travel across the Causeway by bus, depending on traffic conditions,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/se-asia\/proposed-rts-link-fare-of-5-to-7-affordable-for-many-malaysian-workers-but-costlier-than?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\"> proposed RTS Link fares on Feb 18.<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Following this, Malaysian Chinese Association president and Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong proposed a RM300 monthly RTS pass for commuters travelling daily between Johor and Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Johor Baru-Singapore RTS Link, a 4km cross-border LRT project connecting Bukit Chagar (JB) and Woodlands North (Singapore), is expected to open by Dec 31.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">It will feature a five to six-minute, high-capacity (10,000 passengers\/hour\/direction) shuttle service to alleviate Causeway congestion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Senior bartender Aloysius Ruben Lam, 20, who travels to Singapore daily for work, said he spends about RM450 monthly on bus fares.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe proposed RTS Link fares should take into account the financial situation faced by workers who have to cross the border regularly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cIf the RTS Link tickets were to be priced at RM40 for a return trip, my monthly expenses could rise to about RM1,000,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Sales executive Miki Esme, 25, said a more reasonable ticket price range will be between RM5 and RM10.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cTrains should be a convenient option for daily commute, not a luxury reserved for the rich. Public transport is meant to make life easier for everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Malaysian Dato Entrepreneurs Association president <!-- -->Jacky Ker Cherk Yee<!-- --> said expensive ticket prices will not be a\u00a0good strategy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He suggested following the current Shuttle Tebrau rate, which is RM5 from Johor Baru to Singapore and $5 for the return journey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe RM300 special pass proposal will be the best option for commuters,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The RTS is projected to carry 40,000 passengers per day in its initial phase, with daily ridership expected to grow to about 140,000 passengers, potentially accounting for 30 per cent to 40 per cent of Causeway traffic once the system matures. THE STAR\/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/se-asia\/in-malaysia-regular-commuters-to-singapore-hope-for-lower-rts-fare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JOHOR BAHRU \u2013 Regular commuters in Malaysia travelling to Singapore are hoping for lower Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link ticket prices than those proposed by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}