Grab’s cross-border taxis to JB

For the longest time, Singaporeans who wanted to enter JB had a few choices: brave the Causeway Link bus queues, camp for KTM Shuttle Tebrau tickets, or take a gamble on those illegal Singapore-JB private hires. Thankfully, other than the upcoming RTS Link, there’s finally another legit option with greater comfort and convenience.

There’s now a Cross-Border Ride-Hail Service by Grab, which means you can hop on legal car rides to JB. Here’s how our trip went when we booked a cross-border taxi to return back to the Little Red Dot after a long day at our neighbour’s, plus prices and locations.

What is Grab’s cross-border taxi service?

The ride-hailing platform is the first to get the Cross-Border Ride-Hail Service Operator Licence under the enhanced Cross-Border Taxi Scheme, which allows bookings to be made via the Grab app (App Store | Google Play).

Identify licensed vehicles by looking out for the “cross-border taxi” decal.
Image credit: Grab

Dubbed Cross-Border SG-JB (Beta), the service lets you book a ride from wherever you are in Singapore to your destination in selected areas across the Causeway. This service started rolling out on 4th May 2026, so you may or may not see it on your Grab app for now.

What are the pick-up & drop-off locations?

Travelling from Singapore

Visiting the IG-worthy Putuo Village in Kulai will now be easier and quicker.

You’re not restricted to taxi stands or designated points for pick-ups – Grab’s cross-border taxis can pick you up from anywhere in Singapore, including right outside your home. Drop-offs are also pretty flexible – you can be sent directly to your destination within Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri, Forest City, Kulai, and Senai.

Travelling from Malaysia

But take note that the rules flip once you’re in Malaysia. Currently, Singapore-registered taxis, including the Grab cross-border taxis, can only pick up passengers from a few designated locations for now:

• Toppen Shopping Centre
• Mid Valley Southkey
• Angsana Johor Bahru Mall
• Larkin Sentral

So if you’re coming back from JB, you’ll need to head to one of these spots to catch your ride back – drop-off can be anywhere in Singapore.

We booked our trip at 8.45am in the morning, for a cab to pick us up at 9pm at Toppen Shopping Centre, and got confirmation of our booking about 2 hours later. And off we were on our JB escapade, making stops at the new SKS City Mall, Hutan Bandar Park, and the Chinchilla Trading animal cafe.

The pick-up spot at Toppen Shopping Centre.

The driver arrived on time; we ran into some trouble locating the cab, but eventually managed to get everything sorted out through a short call with him via the Grab app. We officially got into the cab at 9.11pm, which was a little close to the strict grace period of 15 minutes for our liking. Thankfully, the rest of the ride home – or rather, to our office – was smooth sailing.

Traffic conditions were good on Malaysia’s side of the border; we managed to get cleared at around 9.42pm. We got our passports out once we were nearing the Causeway and handed them to our driver, who settled everything with the customs officers within the car.

Image credit: Khoo Yong Hao

We faced a little bit of a jam while en route to Singapore, but it was nothing too unusual for a Thursday night. As we inched along, we spoke to our driver, Mr. Sulaiman Bin Mohamed Dali, and asked about his experience ferrying passengers across the Causeway. He told us that he’s been doing it ever since the service rolled out on the 4th, and had been booked for a total of 4 trips including ours.

He also added that he prefers taking up cross-border trips to picking and dropping off passengers solely in JB as there was more money to be made. 

But, he only managed to complete 2 out of 4 of his trips, due to last-minute cancellations made by customers. Fortunately for him, customers on both trips had to pay in full as they cancelled within an hour of the scheduled pick-up time; a stark reminder for future users of this cross-border service to plan their time wisely.

Traffic eased up once we approached Woodlands Checkpoint, and after clearing another round of checks by ICA officers, we were home sweet home. Before we knew it, at around 10.15pm, we had arrived at our office’s doorstep in Kallang Bahru.

Overall, we feel that although it is super convenient to have a private hire vehicle send you from doorstep to doorstep, it is still quite pricey when compared to the other modes of transport that can get you from Singapore to JB and vice versa.

As such, you can consider booking it when travelling with older folks or young kids, or when you foresee yourself being too knackered to take the public transport back home just like us. Speaking of prices:

How much does a Grab cross-border ride to JB cost?

Image adapted from: LTA via Facebook

Fortunately, there won’t be any surge pricing – Grab’s cross-border taxi fares are fixed at the point of booking. Pricing takes reference from existing cross-border street-hail taxi fares, with factors like travel distance, time of day, and peak periods such as public holidays taken into account when the fare is calculated.

Here’s a quick breakdown of street-hail taxi fares from Singapore to JB – just to give you a rough idea of what you might end up paying:

Fares will be charged in SGD for rides from Singapore to Malaysia. ERP and tolls are already included in your fare, so there’s no need to make additional payments.

However, your final Grab fare might vary slightly depending on where exactly you’re headed or where your pick-up location in Singapore is.

Image adapted from: Grab

This writer here did a quick test booking – from my place in Punggol all the way to Johor Bahru City Square, the fare came up to S$100.50 for the standard car, after an automatic 20% discount was applied.

P.S. You can also get 20% off your cross-border Grab rides with the code “CBTSG”, valid till 2nd August 2026, 11.59pm.

There are also other vehicle choices available such as Premium for a more comfortable ride, and a 6-seater if you’ve got more people tagging along or bulky luggage.
Image adapted from: Grab

As for our return trip from JB, it cost us RM333.72 (~S$108.04) after the 20% discount was automatically applied. There were 4 of us in the cab; do the math and it works out to roughly S$27/pax, which isn’t too shabby if you compare it to the Grab rates in sunny Singapore.

However, if you’re travelling by yourself or with just 1 other person, taking a cab might be a tad too costly. Instead, take the many cross-border public buses; ones like the Transtar Cross Border bus or even SMRT’s bus no. 950 are way more affordable, with the latter only costing $1.28 from Woodlands Checkpoint to JB Checkpoint.

How to book a Grab cross-border taxi from SG to JB?

Follow these steps:

1. Click on the “Transport” tile in your Grab app.
2. Under “Rides for your every need”, click on “SG>JB (Beta)”.
3. Key in your pick-up and drop-off locations.
4. Select your preferred ride.
5. Choose the pick-up date and time.
6. Click on “book in advance” to confirm.

Image credit: Grab

Make sure to plan ahead – rides can only be booked in advance, anywhere from 12 hours to 7 days before your trip.

If you’re taking Grab’s cross-border taxi back to Singapore, just repeat the same booking steps in the app and plan in advance as usual. The only difference this time is that your fare will be charged in MYR.

Other important things to note before you book

Passengers get 15 minutes of grace waiting time from the scheduled pick-up time.

You’ll be charged 100% of the fare if you:

• Cancel within 1 hour of your scheduled pick-up time after a driver has already been assigned.
• Don’t show up for your ride.
• Booked the wrong car type (for example, insufficient seats or luggage space for your group).

You can still cancel your booking at no cost, as long as it’s done at least 1 hour before your pick-up time.

If a driver cancels, Grab will keep trying to assign you a driver until 1 hour before your scheduled ride. However, if your assigned driver cancels within that final hour, there won’t be a replacement driver provided. You’ll receive compensation of S$30 or RM100, depending on where your trip starts, via a GrabGift voucher.

And if you somehow make it all the way to the checkpoint only to realise your passport is chilling at home, the driver will end the cross-border trip there, and you’ll still need to pay the full booked fare.

Consider booking Grab’s cross-border taxis for your next JB trip

Whether this becomes your new go-to way of getting into JB depends on what kind of traveller you are. If you’re on a budget, the usual bus and train options will probably still be your best bet. But if convenience matters and you wouldn’t mind paying extra to skip the checkpoint crowd and get dropped straight at your destination, Grab’s cross-border taxi service is an option.

Find out more about Grab’s cross-border taxis

More cross-border travel articles:

• Johor Premium Outlets bus
• SG to JB guide
• SG to Genting Highlands by bus

Cover image adapted from: Grab
Originally published by Wei Yin on 4th May 2026. Last updated by Khoo Yong Hao on 12th May 2026.