Singapore-Johor Crossing: Best Times to Cross Singapore-Johor Causeway on Normal Weekends

The most daunting part of travelling to West Malaysia from Singapore via Woodlands Checkpoint is crossing the Straits of Johor via the Causeway (also known as the first link). The road-and-rail link between the two countries is usually heavily congested, especially on weekends, a time where most people will chose to get on the bridge at the same time.

PS: I usually travel to Johor Bahru via Woodlands Checkpoint, so this post focused primarily on crossing the Causeway. General deductions and observations are applicable to Tuas Checkpoint (second link) too.

To find the best times to cross the Causeway, we need to understand who, why and when will border-crossers be at Woodlands Checkpoint (for going to Malaysia) and Johor Bahru Checkpoint (for coming to Singapore).

We can classify the “who” into two major groups and a smaller negligible one:

1. Commuter-Workers

“Commuter-workers” include largely blue-collar workers, admin staffs, retail staffs, etc, who don’t drive and also those who drive lorries, container trucks, light vans, cars and motorcycles. It is a major contributing factor to peak-hour congestions at the checkpoints. There are also Malaysians residing in Singapore and will return to their hometowns over the weekends.

Most of the Commuter-workers are mostly blue-collar workers and usually need to work 5.5 days a week. Workers can either be working regular office hours (9am to 5pm), retail hours (10am to 10pm) or on shifts (depends on whether 2 or 3 rotating shifts). There are more Malaysians going to Singapore to work than Singaporeans working in Malaysia.

With known or expected working schedules, the behavioural patterns of commuter-workers at the checkpoints are easier to predict.

2. Travellers

This group of people cross the border mainly for leisure or anything under the sky except work. Aside from multi-days holiday-goers, there are day-trippers from Singapore to Johor Bahru for entertainment and local food due to higher exchange rate when converting from Singapore dollars to Malaysia ringgits. Most Singapore day-trippers will choose to drive to Johor, which worsen the traffic conditions during peak hours.

Behavioural patterns of travellers can be difficult to predict since they do not follow fix schedules. We will try to anticipate when they will cross the border from a traveller’s or day-tripper’s mindset — the smarter, experienced minorities will always avoid the “bad times” that the less-experience majorities will choose.

3. Others

This group (students, cross-border taxi-drivers, businessmen, etc) is too small in numbers to be of concerns.

Normally, weekdays are the least congested with smoother traffic outside of peak hours. Weekends are when the Causeway is usually congested, but not at all times. If you can understand the flow of those “people” mentioned above going through the checkpoints, you will be able to find the right time to cross the border to-and-fro without getting caught in both human and traffic congestions.

Disclaimer: All bar charts below illustrate Estimated Probability of Congestion (%) against Time. They are charted based on observations as described in this post, not from any statistical sources.

On Weekdays in a Normal Week

Weekday routines are generally the same from Monday to Friday. However, the land checkpoints will see the beginning of the coming weekends on Friday evenings, or after Friday’s working hours. Expect the scenario to be slightly different on Friday.

Let’s look at what will happen from Monday to Thursday.

From Singapore → Johor Bahru

In the morning around 7am, long-distance tour buses from Singapore to various destinations in West Malaysia will cross the border as early as possible. But the number of tour buses and its passengers will not be a lot as compared to weekends.
The blue Pekerja Bas (worker buses) that ferry first-shift workers to Singapore factories will return to the checkpoints at around 7:30am to 9:30am, either empty or ferrying third-shift workers (this number may not be big) back to Malaysia. The number of these worker buses are in the hundreds.
Heavy vehicles (container trucks, lorries, etc) going to Malaysia will arrive at the checkpoint around 8:30am.
Travellers and day-trippers (housewives, retirees, people on leaves, etc) will cross the Causeway in the morning. They usually aimed for 9am as most shopping centres open at 10am.
After 3pm, worker buses and commuter-workers on first shift will start to turn up at the Causeway to return home.
After 5pm, the main bulk of Malaysian workers on regular working hours will be at the Causeway. This will usually cause congestion at the immigration checkpoints and petered out by around 8pm (except on Friday).
After 11pm, commuter-workers on second shift will arrive at the Causeway.

On Friday evening, after working hours, there will be more people crossing the Causeway to Malaysia. Aside from Malaysian workers (who cross the border daily to work) returning home, there will be those who are residing in Singapore and may go back to their hometowns for the weekends. Inexperience holiday-goers to Malaysia may also choose to cross the Causeway at this time trying to save some annual leaves and ended getting caught in the congestion.

From Johor Bahru → Singapore

Meanwhile, on the other direction of the border-crossing:

As early as 5am, the Pekerja buses and workers will start to cross the Causeway to Singapore, especially those in the first shift who need to be at work by 7am or 8am, office staff by 9am and retail staff by 10am. The crowd will start to peter out by around 10am.
Travellers may travel from Malaysia to Singapore at any time of the day, but generally either in the morning or after working hour.
After 3pm, Malaysian workers on second shift will be waiting for their Pekerja Bas inside Johor Bahru CIQ’s waiting area. The worker buses often caused congestion in JB CIQ due to workers getting stuck at immigration due to large number of border-crossers and also when the auto-gate system is down. Some bus drivers will try to earn extra incomes by picking up other commuters, including travellers, and waited in the main lanes instead of the bus bays. This created a bottleneck in JB CIQ that resulted in traffic congestion on the roads and highways leading to JB CIQ as early as 3pm — every working weekday.

Approximately 15 minutes to 5pm, some non-Singapore-registered vehicles will start to travel slowly on the Causeway so they can reach Singapore just after 5pm to avoid paying the fees for Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP). Some drivers may even park their vehicles on the Malaysian side of the Causeway when they realised they are too early.
Day-trippers will return to Singapore starting from late afternoon. Majority of them will choose to return at around 5pm to 7pm, after having spent a “full day” in Johor.

Note: Singapore imposes a VEP fee on foreign-registered vehicles from Monday to Friday but exemption granted between 5pm to 2am. Most foreign-registered vehicles will aim to reach Singapore checkpoints after 5pm on weekdays to save on the fees. During school holidays, the exemption starts at 12pm.

Note: Effective from 1 January 2027, free VEP hours will be removed. See details at LTA.

On Saturdays

Although Saturdays are off-days to most people, they are not so for those who may need to work another half a day on those days. This is a major oversight for many travellers who choose to cross the Straits of Johor on Saturdays.

From Singapore → Johor Bahru

Similarly, Malaysian workers on Friday’s third shift will be at the checkpoint as early as 7am. Malaysian workers who do not go back to their hometown on Friday night will also do so on Saturday morning.
Weekend holiday-goers for 2 days in Malaysia will also travel to the Causeway on this day. Most tour buses will depart from their embarkation points as early as 6am to avoid being caught in congestions that usually worsen around 8am. Due to high demands on Saturdays, there will be busloads of people reaching the checkpoint at random timings from no less than 10 tour bus companies and also those taking public buses.
Singapore day-trippers will join in the fray around 8am. Since most shopping centres open at 10am, they usually won’t go in too early. Most of them will end up reaching the shopping centres after 12pm or give up and turn around at Woodlands Checkpoint.
Around 9am, cargo-carrying trucks from Singapore will enter Malaysia — for those who still need to work on Saturdays. After 10am, more trucks will return to Malaysia after the morning run carrying goods into Singapore.
After 11am, Malaysian workers who need to work on Saturdays, including those residing in Singapore, will start to turn up at the Causeway. This adds more crowd to the border-crossing and can last till 2:30pm or worst on some Saturdays.
After 5pm, more Singapore day-trippers will cross the Causeway for dinner or late-night supper. These group of people usually drives and may extend the traffic congestion to 9pm.

From Johor Bahru → Singapore

While things look “hot” in the Singapore to Johor Bahru direction, the other direction is very relax. It is a day that is slow to go over to Johor Bahru but fast to return to Singapore.

Malaysian workers will cross the Causeway in the morning for those needing to work on Saturdays. The crowd will petered out by 9am.
Malaysian day-trippers or foreign travellers to Singapore will cross the Causeway at any time of the day.
Singapore day-trippers will return home usually towards the end of the day.

On Sundays

One good thing about Sundays is that majority of the commuter-workers don’t need to work — except those in retail lines.

From Singapore → Johor Bahru

Singapore day-trippers will go over to Johor in the morning, usually between 7am to 12pm.
Malaysian tourists to Singapore will return to Malaysia at any time of the day.

From Johor Bahru → Singapore

Malaysians residing in Singapore and need to work the following day will return to Singapore. They may return at any time of the day but many will prefer to do so towards the end of day, maximising their stays in their hometowns.
Holiday-goers and day-trippers from Singapore will start to appear at the Causeway after 2pm to return to Singapore. Many of them drives, some went over on Saturday and return at the same time as those who drive over on Sunday. The traffic congestion may last until 9pm or later.
There will be lesser Pekerja buses and heavy vehicles, but more tour buses. Those returning from further cities will reach the Causeway later. And, due to operational and other reasons, many of them will be at the checkpoints after 2pm — at a time when it is about to get worst.

Best Times to Cross the Border for Travellers

For holiday-goers and day-trippers, the best time to go over the Causeway to Johor Bahru on a weekday starts as early as 7am and return before 3pm or after 7pm.

On Sundays, the best duration for day-tripping will be between 7am to 2pm (or earlier).

It will be better to avoid going on Saturdays as traffic congestion at the checkpoints can result in 2 to 4 hours in queues. However, if going on a Saturday is a must, try going after 3pm but do monitor the traffic conditions before going.

More: SG-Johor Crossing: Best Time to Go Shopping in Johor Bahru

Effect of School Holidays

During the month-long mid-year and year-end school holidays, the number of holiday-goers between the two countries will increase on both weekdays and weekends. The trends of commuter-workers crossing the border will generally remain unchanged, but the number of travellers may increase by at least 3 folds. Probability of congestion will increase drastically on both weekdays and weekends.

In short, weekdays may be like weekends, and weekends may become nightmares (maybe not so exaggerated, but you will feel the heat when caught in the congestions).

For travellers with no constraints to travel, it may be better to plan trips outside school holidays unless you can predict the behavioural patterns for certain periods.

Other than normal weekends, we also studied the behavioural patterns of border-crossing due to public holidays, especially on long weekends — if normal weekends are already consider bad, long weekends are worst!