Last year, I had written a blog on Melaka Sentral Bus Terminal ( right click the sentence and open the link ) if you want to read it. For this blog, I would briefly write about the latest bus trip that I took from Singapore to Melaka. I bought the coach ticket at Golden Mile Complex at Beach Road and there are many bus operators there – pick that time schedule that is suitable.
On this trip, I decided to try Five Stars Tours and paid S$22 for a one way trip from Singapore to Melaka Sentral Bus Terminal. I was a slightly annoyed that the bus did not stop inside the bus terminal proper, but alighted us at a bus stop outside the Melaka bus terminal. As I know my way around, I simply cross the road and walked to the bus terminal. But I noticed that there were a few passengers who looked dazed as to where they were and asked the bus driver for direction. All this could be avoided if the bus could alight the passengers inside the bus terminal.
The Five Stars’ coach was a single deck bus with two rows of seats on the right and one row of seat on the left (27 seaters) and the seat was very spacious. Overall the bus was clean and comfortable. However, the driver was less helpful as compared to other bus operators. When arriving at customs checkpoint, the driver simply opened the door and expect passengers to know what to do. There were 2 ladies from China and 2 ladies from Europe who asked me whether they should bring down their luggage at Tuas Checkpoint. The driver of the coach should be made responsible for informing passengers what to do at the 2 checkpoints.
There was a stopover at Yong Peng bus terminal for passengers to have a meal, shopping for local products or go to the toilet. The time given was about half an hour. I noticed that Five Stars had a small kiosk at this place and some new passengers joined us from here. I think the stop at Yong Peng was good – as it gave me an opportunity to walk and stretch my legs. When the time was up to board the bus, I was walking outside towards the bus bay and the 2 European ladies came to me looking panic and told me they couldn’t locate our bus at the bus bay. I walked along the bus bay and it was not there. I told them that the bus must had gone to the petrol station. About 10 minutes later, the bus drove into the bus bay.
If you drive to Melaka from Singapore, the duration should be about 3 hours. For this bus trip, it took nearly 4.5 hours to reach Melaka Bus terminal. This was because upon reaching Melaka, the bus had to pick up passengers at hotels in Melaka town; and thereafter proceed to the bus terminal. Previously when I took the coach operated by S & S International at Keypoint Building ( Beach Road) it was faster – there was no stopover at Yong Peng and the bus alighted at the bus terminal proper. I had also taken the coach from Sri Maju Group from Melaka to Singapore – the journey took 5 hours. I told my friend seated beside me that I could reached Kuala Lumpur within 5 hours from Singapore.
The reason why I booked a one way ticket was because of cost. It is much cheaper to book a return ticket to Singapore from Melaka Bus Sentral. On the return trip back to Singapore, I booked 5 Stars coach again – the service is reasonably good if you don’t need any information or help from the driver; and you can tolerate a longer time to reach Singapore. The cost of the ticket was RM23 – that was only S$9.30 ( so much cheaper right). Anyway, even if you book from any bus operators, it would definitely be cheaper as the cost of the ticket is in Malaysian Ringgit.
