Thinking further afield
Is it time for the MOT to get serious about regulating cross-border transport?
RailTravel Station went on a trip up north to KL. For some reason, he chose to take the Cityline bus. It didn’t even show up at all.
And down south, it’s not all roses too. The Indonesian authorities are probing allegations of price-fixing amongst ferry operators between Singapore and Batam.
Considering how many of these cross-border services use Singaporean infrastructure, perhaps the Singapore MOT needs to sit up and take stock of the situation as well.
The vestige
People really only hear about the Public Transport Council in the context of fare adjustments, a vestigal role they retain these days. It used to have a larger regulatory role, such as governing proposed service adjustments by bus operators; but with contracting, the LTA has slowly taken over the PTC’s role in regulating domestic land public transport.
I draw this distinction because at the end of the day, sea transport is still largely unregulated. There are scheduled ferries down to St. John’s Island and Kusu Island. But getting to Pulau Ubin still relies on the old system — private small-holding boat owners that leave when the boat is full, whether you wait for other passengers to fill up the boat with you or you charter the whole boat.
Now, since vanishingly few people still call Pulau Ubin home, and much of the travel over is leisure in nature, the Transport Ministry may see no benefit in regulating this industry and potentially disturbing the livelihoods of boat operators. Of course, they could work with NParks and the Tourism Board to schedule departures and pay boat operators accordingly, if they want to make an effort to drive tourism in Pulau Ubin. Do they, though?
At least it looks like the MPA may be doing something, as a section on “licensing of regional ferry operators” has quietly appeared on the MPA website. Could this be a precursor to tighter regulation on the cross-border transport sector? Much is not known about these new regulations — the MPA will discuss more about these new regulations after submitting an enquiry form. But I can picture that this may be related, at least if the Transport Ministry wants to develop air-sea connections as part of Changi Airport’s expansion. Regulating regional ferry operators means holding them accountable to certain standards of safety and security to give travellers peace of mind that their entire journey will be secured— and also gives policymakers a mechanism to regulate prices.
After all, we’re building infrastructure for ferries. With a potential upgrading of HarbourFront Centre on the cards and discussions being had on shifting ferry operations to Marina South (Pier?) where there’s plenty of space, there’s plenty of space for cross-border maritime transport to grow.
Lagging behind
On the other hand, it should not be an understatement to say that Singapore’s infrastructure for intercity bus travel is significantly lagging behind Malaysia’s. While the government may be placing their hopes on the HSR, I don’t think that’s a very smart thing to do. Part of that may be due to the nature of the industry itself in Malaysia, but the Singapore Government has made no impetus to drive improvement on its part.
There is a certain level of licensing and regulation in Malaysian bus terminal operations, and most major towns and cities should have such a licensed terminal. Larger terminals like TBS and Larkin have already moved to centralized ticketing computer systems, likely to deter touting, but through which they also now know who is passing through the terminal. It’s also a bad look when a Singaporean got arrested across the border for not holding the proper licenses — is a Singaporean Bus Driver’s Vocational License enough for the Malaysian authorities? Should it be?
Another factor to consider may be the ICA’s requirement for intercity express bus operators to transmit advance passenger information and help enforce any no-boarding directives that ICA may impose on a foreign national. It takes two to clap, and bus companies’ concerns about these measures are understandable. That may be why the ICA has not yet appeared to implement them, despite the relevant amendments to the Immigration Act being made last year.
In crisis lies opportunity. During the pandemic, the Singapore authorities set up the Vaccinated Travel Lanes for Singapore-bound travellers, where special arrangements and exemptions from public health measures were made — but restricted only to certain ports, and to certain flights. Perhaps the solution could be similar to this, relying not only on bus companies, but on terminal operators’ computer systems too. Terminal operators, who may already collect some personal information already, can perform the checks with ICA instead of the bus company, with the terminal infrastructure being used to support the enforcement of no-boarding directives.
This may mean some loss of convenience. Intercity express bus companies may no longer be able to pick up at Berjaya Times Square or downtown hotels; they may be required to use TBS or Melaka Sentral or some other licensed bus terminal to comply with ICA’s regulations, unless the bus company’s operations are big enough to support a “check-in” and to be able to handle any pre-clearance complications independently.
Returning the favour
The need for sea infrastructure is there because you can’t just park a boat, especially the big 300+ seaters used by large operators like Batamfast, at a random jetty along East Coast or Pasir Panjang. Similarly, the international nature of regional ferries means ICA needs a CIQ operation to facilitate entry into Singapore for these travellers. There’s still one at Changi Point, even though Changi Point currently does not serve Malaysia-bound traffic, only boats to Pulau Ubin.
Why not do the same for intercity express coaches? As I’ve long said, plenty of space around the Second Link and Tuas Link MRT means we can take a more comprehensive solution — a bus terminal within the customs-restricted area that significantly reduces the need for intercity express coaches to formally enter Singapore; and the accompanying security, customs, and vehicle licensing requirements that come along with that.
Right now, it’s also not possible to walk into the Tuas Checkpoint, which means apart from not-so-frequent Causeway Link buses from separate terminals, it’s not so feasible to use public transport across the Second Link. Such a bus terminal could also be used to improve the cross-border travel experience, where any Malaysian-registered bus can be used for cross-border travel, allowing Malaysian bus companies to increase capacity into Singapore.
A turn-up-and-go service can even be offered, much like the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge’s shuttle services — be it getting Causeway Link to consolidate their services into a single departure point from Singapore, or inviting other public transport operators besides Causeway Link to participate.
On the intercity side, common ticketing, dispatch, and waiting facilities can also be maintained, ensuring some form of consumer protection and improved passenger experience. No one will be left behind at Singapore immigration when everyone has to clear immigration on foot before even seeing a bus, unlike some stories. While touts may not be such an issue in Singapore, it speaks volumes about how much we care when Malaysian terminals offer better facilities than we do. It doesn’t have to be Changi Airport, but anything is better than waiting on the kerbside or in the corridors of MacPherson’s Grantral Mall.
And in the long run, there may be intercity rail projects. But KTM services and the HSR won’t go everywhere, and especially to Malaysia’s east coast, there will still be a market for intercity bus service.
A more hands on approach
Of course, building a bus terminal with its own systems will be more involved than the Woodlands Train Checkpoint, where KTMB just needs a place to safely stop a train and let passengers get on and off; the rest is customs and immigration facilities. But I can’t help but think that there’s big holes in Singapore’s international links here. And not every operator is a Malaysian operator — it looks like Cityline registers its buses in Singapore, and should thus be held to Singapore consumer protection laws.
If there’s a need for special handling, the Public Transport Council can expand its remit to include safety and consumer protection standards for intercity buses that wish to operate to Singapore destinations, as an outgrowth of its role in managing the Premium bus services that still remain. Transtar Travel also previously interlined their now-defunct Premium 783 route with their cross-border TS6 route to Gelang Patah, so there was already some level of overlap.
Of course, this could end up just driving less reliable operators “underground” in a sense, where they only go as far as Johor Bahru and expect travellers to find their own way across the border. But would it matter? Cheaper fares and more destinations are already available out of Larkin, and if you go to Larkin by yourself, you’re already agreeing to take the risk (of course, please buy insurance). But Larkin also offers another benefit — it’s simple for anyone to turn up and buy any ticket for the next bus from any company.
Taking a bus out of Singapore needs research, whether you buy tickets online on busonlineticket.com or some other platform, or that you need to know where the bus companies’ offices are. Making intercity express buses easier to use provides an alternative to driving across the border, which can decrease congestion at the land checkpoints too. And this is something Singapore can do quite unilaterally, so we aren’t subject to the whims and desires of Malaysian politics.
Cleaning up the sea transport industry can also help reduce congestion at the land checkpoints as well. With a proper terminal in the west of Singapore (preferably also at Tuas Link/Raffles Marina), services from places like Puteri Harbor become more viable, allowing Malaysians to drive there, take a ferry across, and then use Singapore public transport, so they don’t need to drive across the Second Link. Just like in Penang or Vancouver.
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