A licensed cross-border taxi from Singapore to Johor Bahru starts at S$80 for a standard four-seater if you queue at the Ban San Street Terminal taxi stand, the only fare that low. App and phone bookings cost more, six and premium seaters run higher, and a temporary driver fee plus distance surcharges can push the total up. Since 4 May 2026 these taxis can drop you anywhere in Singapore and across Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri, Forest City, Kulai and Senai, so you no longer have to end the trip at a terminal. The catch is value: at S$80 and up per car, a taxi only makes financial sense when you split it across four to six people, carry heavy luggage, or are travelling at a time the cheaper options cannot match. This guide gives the 2026 fares from official sources, the rules that changed, how Grab and the phone operators price the ride, and a plain comparison against the S$2 bus and the train so you know when the taxi is worth it.
There are two ways to take a licensed cross-border taxi from Singapore: street-hail, where you walk up and queue at the Ban San Street Terminal near Bugis, and a booking, where you reserve by app or phone in advance. The walk-in queue is the cheapest because it has a fixed published fare. Bookings cost more and the exact price depends on the operator and where you are going.
Walk-in fares from the Ban San Street Terminal are S$80 for a standard four-seater, S$120 for a standard six-seater and S$180 for a premium six-seater such as an Alphard or Vellfire. The S$80 floor applies only to walk-in passengers in the terminal queue, so if you are seeing higher numbers it is almost certainly because you booked rather than queued. LTA states the full published street-hail range from Ban San Street runs from S$80 up to S$210 per taxi once every vehicle category is counted, so the named three tiers above sit inside that band and the very top is reserved for the largest premium vehicles.
Two extra charges can sit on top in 2026. A temporary driver fee of S$0.80 per cross-border trip applied from 24 March to 31 May 2026 under ComfortDelGro, so confirm whether any such surcharge is still in force when you book. For trips beyond 35km from the pick-up point, a distance surcharge applies: an extra S$20 for a four-seater and S$30 for a six-seater or premium vehicle. That is what turns a S$80 fare into S$100 if your drop-off is deep into Johor rather than central JB.
Coming back from Johor, street-hail fares at the Larkin Terminal are quoted in ringgit: RM240 for a standard four-seater, RM360 for a standard six-seater and RM540 for a premium six-seater. At a typical mid-2026 rate of around three ringgit to the Singapore dollar, the return leg works out close to the Singapore fares once you account for the spread, so neither direction is dramatically cheaper than the other on a per-car basis.
| Vehicle | From Ban San Street (SGD) | From Larkin Terminal (MYR) | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard 4-seater | S$80 | RM240 | Up to 4 |
| Standard 6-seater | S$120 | RM360 | Up to 6 |
| Premium 6-seater | S$180 | RM540 | Up to 6 |
| Beyond 35km surcharge | +S$20 (4-seat) / +S$30 (6-seat) | Operator-quoted | — |
The cross-border taxi scheme was overhauled by the Land Transport Authority and Malaysia's APAD with effect from 4 May 2026. The old rule forced these taxis to start and end at fixed terminals on both sides, which meant a Singapore-registered taxi could only drop you at the Larkin Terminal or JB Sentral, not your hotel. That is no longer the case.
Under the enhanced scheme, a Singapore taxi can drop you anywhere within five Johor zones: Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri, Forest City, Kulai and Senai. A Malaysian taxi can drop you anywhere in Singapore. So the trip can now end at your actual destination, which is the main reason a taxi became more useful than it was a year ago.
Pick-ups are still controlled. In your home country you can be picked up freely, but in the foreign country pick-ups by app are limited to designated points. In Singapore those e-hail pick-up points for Malaysian taxis are outside Harbourfront MRT near VivoCity, outside Tampines DTL MRT near Century Square, and outside Joo Koon MRT. In Johor the equivalent app pick-up points are Toppen Shopping Centre, Mid Valley Southkey and Angsana Mall. Street-hail continues to work the old way: walk up and queue at Ban San Street in Singapore or Larkin in Johor.
The LTA also awarded GrabCar the first Cross-border Ride-hail Service Operator Licence, valid for three years from 30 April 2026, which makes Grab the first app you can legally use to book one of these taxis end to end. Supply is rising alongside the rule change: each side added 100 taxis to the scheme, taking the fleet to 300 per side, with a stated plan to scale up to 500 each over time. That matters because the older scheme capped each side at around 200 taxis, and thin supply was a big reason walk-up rides were hard to get on a busy weekend.
The longer-term picture is changing too, because the RTS Link rail line is targeted to open by the end of 2026 and will reshape the whole cost comparison.
Only a fixed list of operators can legally run a cross-border taxi out of Singapore. As of 2026 the licensed Singapore-side names are ComfortDelGro (CDG Taxi), Prime Taxi, Strides Premier, Trans-Cab, GrabCab and Grab itself, which holds the separate ride-hail licence. Anyone else offering to drive you to JB for a quoted fare is operating illegally, and that matters for both your safety and your wallet.
If you want to phone-book rather than queue, the direct lines are ComfortDelGro on 6552 1111 (press 0 for cross-border, taken 24/7), Trans-Cab on 6555 3333, and Prime Taxi on 6778 0808. Strides Premier takes bookings through its online form rather than a hotline. Each operator quotes the fare and trip distance before you confirm, so you are not committing blind, and the advance-notice window runs from same-day for Grab up to seven days for ComfortDelGro.
One change worth knowing for the trip home: ComfortDelGro stopped taking return-leg JB-to-Singapore bookings through its Singapore hotline under the new scheme, so you arrange the return separately once you are in Johor, either by street-hailing at Larkin or booking through Grab from one of the three designated Johor pick-up points.
| Operator | How to book | Advance notice |
|---|---|---|
| ComfortDelGro (CDG Taxi) | Phone 6552 1111 (press 0), 24/7 | Up to 7 days |
| Trans-Cab | Phone 6555 3333 | Typically 1-5 days |
| Prime Taxi | Phone 6778 0808 | Typically 1-5 days |
| Strides Premier | Online booking form | Around 24 hours |
| Grab | Grab app (ride-hail licence) | Same-day to 7 days |
Illegal cross-border drivers are the real money trap here, not the official fare. LTA has been running enforcement at the land checkpoints since mid-2025, checking thousands of vehicles and impounding well over a hundred, and the figures keep climbing as demand for the crossing grows. The people getting caught are unlicensed drivers offering door-to-door rides at fares that sit between the bus and the official taxi, which is exactly the pitch that sounds like a deal.
The cost of riding with one is not just the fare. A driver providing cross-border hire-and-reward service without a Public Service Vehicle Licence is committing an offence under the Road Traffic Act, and on conviction faces a fine of up to S$3,000, jail of up to six months, or both, with the vehicle liable to be forfeited. As the passenger you are not the one prosecuted, but you are in an uninsured, unvetted vehicle with no recourse if the trip goes wrong or the driver abandons you at the checkpoint.
Telling a legitimate taxi apart is straightforward. A licensed cross-border taxi carries proper taxi livery and a taxi topper, and it picks up only from the official points: the Ban San Street queue, the three Singapore e-hail points, or a booking made through Grab or a licensed operator's hotline. If someone approaches you in a private car at Bugis or in a car park offering a fixed price to JB, it is not part of the scheme. Private-hire cars are barred from cross-border service entirely, so a Grab or Gojek private-hire car cannot legally take you across either.
If you cannot or will not queue, you book. Grab is the licensed app option as of 2026, and a booked Grab cross-border ride is priced like a normal Grab fare rather than the fixed S$80 terminal rate, so it moves with distance, demand and your exact pick-up and drop-off. One example reported after launch was about S$100.50 for a standard car from Punggol to JB City Square after a 20 percent promo, which tells you a door-to-door booked fare typically lands above the S$80 walk-in floor.
The traditional phone operators still run the service. ComfortDelGro takes bookings on 6552 1111 (press 0) up to seven days ahead, and quotes the trip distance and total fare before confirming rather than publishing a fixed table. Other licensed Singapore operators include Prime Taxi, Strides Premier, Trans-Cab and GrabCab. Each handles its own pricing and advance-notice window, so the fare you are quoted depends on the operator you call.
Two practical points on booking. First, advance notice matters: phone operators typically want one to several days, ComfortDelGro up to seven, while Grab can be booked closer to departure. Second, the convenience of a booking is paying not to stand in a queue and getting picked up where you are, but you give up the lowest fare to get it. If price is the only thing you care about, the walk-in queue at Ban San Street wins.
The Ban San Street Terminal is the Singapore street-hail point, tucked beside Queen Street near Bugis, and is the same spot locals have used for the old shared taxis for years. Queue at the cross-border taxi stand there for the S$80 walk-in fare. On the Johor side, the street-hail point is the Larkin Terminal in JB, where you walk up for a ringgit-priced ride back.
App pick-ups are restricted to fixed points when you are in the foreign country, which trips up first-timers. If you are in Johor trying to book a Grab back to Singapore, your pick-up has to be one of the three designated Johor points, not your hotel lobby. If you are in Singapore booking a Malaysian-registered taxi, the pick-up is one of the three Singapore e-hail points. The drop-off, by contrast, can be your real destination on either side.
| Location | Street-hail pick-up | App pick-up points | Drop-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore | Ban San Street Terminal (Bugis) | Harbourfront/VivoCity, Tampines/Century Square, Joo Koon MRT | Anywhere in Singapore |
| Johor | Larkin Terminal | Toppen, Mid Valley Southkey, Angsana Mall | JB, Iskandar Puteri, Forest City, Kulai, Senai |
A cross-border taxi is the most expensive way across by a wide margin. The honest comparison is against the public bus and the train, because that is what decides whether the convenience is worth paying for.
The public bus is the floor. Cross-border services such as 160, 170, 170X and 950 run on distance-based EZ-Link or SimplyGo fares that land in the low single digits in Singapore dollars, often under S$2. The dedicated Causeway Link yellow buses are a flat few dollars: the CW1 from Kranji MRT to JB is S$2.00 by EZ-Link or SimplyGo and S$2.60 in cash, for example. The trade-off is that you clear immigration on foot and queue at the checkpoint, so the time is unpredictable.
The KTM Shuttle Tebrau train runs between Woodlands CIQ and JB Sentral for S$5 one-way (RM5 on the return leg), and the train itself crosses in about five minutes because you clear immigration inside the terminal and skip the road queue. The constraint is supply: tickets open 30 days ahead and weekend slots can sell out within minutes. The JB budget guide covers booking timing in detail.
So when does a taxi win on money rather than on comfort? When you are a group. Split a S$80 four-seater across four people and it is S$20 each; split a S$120 six-seater across six and it is S$20 each, door to door, with no separate checkpoint queue on foot. Add heavy luggage, a late-night crossing when buses and trains have stopped, or young children and elderly parents, and the per-head cost starts to look reasonable. For one or two people travelling light in daylight, the bus or train is far better value and the taxi is paying S$80 to skip a queue.
| Mode | Typical one-way cost | Crossing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public bus (170/950 etc.) | Under S$2 to low single digits | On foot at checkpoint; queue varies | Cheapest; solo or budget travellers |
| Causeway Link CW1 | S$2.00 (EZ-Link) / S$2.60 cash | On foot at checkpoint; queue varies | Cheap, fixed fare from Kranji |
| KTM Shuttle Tebrau | S$5 (RM5 return) | ~5 min train, no road queue | Fast crossing if you book early |
| Cross-border taxi (walk-in) | S$80 (4-seat) / S$120 (6-seat) | Door to door by road; jam-affected | Groups, luggage, late night, door-to-door |
| Grab cross-border | ~S$100+ (4-seat, varies) | Door to door by road; jam-affected | No queue, booked pick-up at fixed points |
A taxi gives you a private door-to-door ride, but it does not skip the Causeway jam. Off-peak, the whole trip from central Singapore to JB can be about an hour. On a bad weekend it can stretch to three or four hours stuck in checkpoint traffic, and that is the same queue the taxi sits in. The fixed fare does not rise with the jam, but your time does.
The heaviest periods are Friday evenings roughly 5pm to 10pm, Saturdays through the day, and the runs around Singapore and Malaysian public holidays. Weekday commuter peaks hit early mornings into JB and evenings back. During the worst jams, drivers sometimes decline the cross-border trip outright because the queue is not worth it to them, so a booking made in advance is more reliable than hoping to walk up on a peak Saturday.
If you are going for value, cross early before about 8am and come back before the afternoon build-up. Planning around long weekends helps too; check the Singapore public holidays for 2026 so you do not pick the single busiest crossing day of the month. None of this is unique to taxis, but because you are paying S$80 and up, sitting in a four-hour jam in a metered-feeling ride stings more than it does on a S$2 bus.
Treat the taxi fare as one line in the trip, not the whole cost. The per-car fare is fixed, so the way to control cost per head is to fill the seats. A four-seater at S$80 is S$20 a head full and S$80 a head if you ride alone. That single fact decides whether a taxi is a smart spend or a lazy one. You can model a full day, including the crossing, food and shopping, with the personal budget calculator.
Once you are in JB, the bigger money question is how you pay over there, because the foreign-transaction fees on a normal Singapore card quietly eat 3 percent or more on every swipe. A multi-currency card holding ringgit sidesteps that, and the JB budget guide covers getting a fair SGD-MYR rate, avoiding dynamic currency conversion, and which categories are genuinely cheaper across the border. The taxi gets you there; the card and cash decisions decide whether the day actually saves you money.
What you spend the day on also decides whether the fare pays for itself. A full car heading over for a cheap JB massage, a meal and groceries spreads S$80 across real savings, while a solo errand rarely justifies it. Door-to-door buys you a whole day, so load the trip with the things that are genuinely cheaper across the border rather than treating the ride as the outing.
One rule that catches drivers: if you take a Singapore-registered car or taxi out, fuel and customs rules still apply. For your own car the three-quarter tank rule is on you; in a taxi the operator handles it, but it is worth knowing your driver may need to top up before crossing, which can add a few minutes. The fare itself does not change for that.
A licensed cross-border taxi starts at S$80 for a standard four-seater if you walk up and queue at the Ban San Street Terminal in Singapore. A standard six-seater is S$120 and a premium six-seater is S$180. Booked rides by app or phone usually cost more, and trips beyond 35km add S$20 for a four-seater or S$30 for a larger vehicle.
For the S$80 walk-in fare, queue at the cross-border taxi stand at the Ban San Street Terminal near Bugis. If you book through Grab a Malaysian-registered taxi, the in-Singapore app pick-up points are outside Harbourfront MRT near VivoCity, outside Tampines DTL MRT near Century Square, and outside Joo Koon MRT.
Yes, since 4 May 2026. Under the enhanced scheme a Singapore taxi can drop you anywhere within Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri, Forest City, Kulai and Senai, instead of ending at a terminal. A Malaysian taxi can drop you anywhere in Singapore. Pick-ups in the foreign country are still restricted to designated points.
The bus is far cheaper. Public cross-border buses cost under S$2 to a few dollars, and the KTM Shuttle Tebrau train is S$5. A taxi at S$80 and up only becomes good value when you split it across four to six people, carry heavy luggage, or travel late at night when buses and trains have stopped.
Yes. GrabCar received the first cross-border ride-hail licence, valid three years from 30 April 2026, so it is the first app you can legally use end to end. A booked Grab fare is priced by distance and demand rather than the fixed S$80 rate, so expect to pay more than the walk-in queue, typically S$100 or more for a four-seater.
Off-peak it can be about an hour door to door. During heavy periods such as Friday evenings, Saturdays and public holidays, the Causeway jam can stretch the trip to three or four hours, and the taxi sits in the same queue. The fixed fare does not rise with the jam, but your travel time does.
Yes, the return leg is quoted in ringgit. Street-hail fares from the Larkin Terminal are RM240 for a standard four-seater, RM360 for a six-seater and RM540 for a premium six-seater. At around three ringgit to the Singapore dollar, the return cost is broadly similar to the Singapore-side fares per car.
The licensed Singapore-side operators in 2026 are ComfortDelGro (CDG Taxi), Prime Taxi, Strides Premier, Trans-Cab and GrabCab, plus Grab itself under a separate cross-border ride-hail licence. To phone-book, ComfortDelGro is 6552 1111 (press 0), Trans-Cab is 6555 3333 and Prime Taxi is 6778 0808; Strides Premier uses an online form. Any other driver offering the trip is operating outside the scheme.
No. Ordinary private-hire cars cannot legally cross the border. Only licensed cross-border taxis and Grab's dedicated cross-border taxi service are allowed. A driver providing the trip without a Public Service Vehicle Licence faces a fine of up to S$3,000, jail of up to six months, or both, and the vehicle can be forfeited, so an off-scheme ride leaves you uninsured with no recourse.
Use the Ban San Street queue, one of the three official Singapore e-hail pick-up points, or a booking through Grab or a licensed operator's hotline. A real cross-border taxi has proper taxi livery and a topper. If someone in a private car approaches you at Bugis or in a car park offering a fixed price to JB, it is not part of the scheme, so decline and queue at Ban San Street instead.
Not through ComfortDelGro's Singapore hotline, which stopped taking return-leg bookings from JB under the new scheme. Arrange the return once you are in Johor, either by street-hailing at the Larkin Terminal or by booking Grab from one of the three designated Johor pick-up points: Toppen, Mid Valley Southkey or Angsana Mall.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.