Getting to most places within Johor Bahru or to nearby districts in the state of Johor, Malaysia, is easy using local public bus services. While most long-distance bus services are available only from Larkin Sentral, shorter distance services to adjacent districts, such as Kulai or Kota Tinggi, is accessible via JB Sentral, the transport hub nearest to Singapore.
Apart from bus services, there are also train services from JB Sentral to some districts in Johor, including Kulai District (古来), but is rather limited. However, they can be useful in certain situations.
Bus Services
If you intend to travel from Singapore to Kulai using public bus services, cross the Causeway to Johor Bahru, exit JB CIQ checkpoint and walk to the bus terminal below JB Sentral.
From JB Sentral Bus Terminal, take myBAS T30 to Kulai District. The service will terminate at Taman Putri Kulai Terminal in Kulai District, taking about 1 hour and 25 minutes travel time at 30 minutes interval via Skudai Highway. See service route at Causeway Link website.
Note that myBAS T30 stops at two bus terminals in Kulai:
brief stop-over at Kulai Terminal (RM4.20)
final stop at Taman Putri Kulai Terminal (RM4.70)
Kulai Bus Terminal is the nearest bus terminal to Kulai Train Station (currently re-constructing — see Train Services section below) and several clusters of eating places and cafes. It takes around 1 hour for myBAS T30 to travel from JB Sentral to Kulai Terminal. If you are familiar with the bus route, drop off at bus stops nearer to your destinations, instead of alighting at the terminal.
To go further north in Kulai, beyond the coverage of myBAS Service T30, go to Larkin Sentral Platform A04 and take City Bus 2 that is bounded for Ayer Hitam. It will also make a brief stop at Kulai Bus Terminal.
Alternatively, take bus services from JB Sentral to Kulai Bus Terminal and change to City Bus 2 to northern Kulai.
Train Services
During peak hours, traffic on the Skudai Highway can be very slow, especially during weekends and on the road towards Johor Bahru around late afternoon. In such situations, it may be better to use train services between Kulai and JB Sentral, which takes about 45 minutes in each direction.
Kulai Train Station is currently under reconstruction and expected to be completed in 2025. Trains will stop at a temporary station, about 4Km away from the old station, nearer to AEON Mall Kulai. Use Grab car to continue to your destination. Be aware of changes in the trains' arrival and departure timings.
There are only 4 services in each direction per day:
JB Sentral to Kulai @ 8:30am, 2:40pm, 6:05pm and 8:25pm
Kulai to JB Sentral @ 5:42am, 11:38am, 1:30pm and 7:02pm
Fare is RM11 per person one-way
Notice the large gap in timings in the "Kulai to JB Sentral" schedule in the afternoon? The most useful train service to skirt any peak-hour traffic congestion on the Skudai Highway is at 7:02pm.
Note: Train schedules are subjected to changes. Do refer to KTMB Online for up-to-date timings. To save the hassle of going to the train station to get advance tickets, download KTMB's mobile app from respective app stores.
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Do plan ahead and use either bus or train services to get to or from Kulai District.