alexinc

First, out of curiousity has anyone been able to find a manned booth to politely ask for an exit passport stamp, at Changi Airport or Woodlands CIQ? I collect these and wouldn't mind the extra effort if it's even possible.

Second, what would be the ideal way to get from Changi Airport to JB CIQ, be in JB for a few hours then get down to the Gardens by the Bay? This would be on a Thursday.

From what I gather: Changi MRT -> Woodlands Train Station -> buy KTM train to JB CIQ. Then on the way back, take the KTM train back to Woodlands CIQ and MRT down to Gardens by the Bay?

invisible

You understand that just on road in and back you will spend 6 hours and more, do you?

alexinc

Why six hours? From what I gather, it would be about 60-90 min from Changi to Woodlands train station, KTM from SG to JB is 5 minutes (plus 30 min with clearing immigration). 35 min again for the way back and 60 min MRT down to Gardens by the Bay.

4 hours but obviously there's all this waiting in the middle of each transit so even adding an extra hour on top puts it under 6. Or am I grossly underestimating an aspect of the transit?

WilcoRoger

As for the exit stamp - there are always manned booths at Changi, but pax are directed towards the machine gates. You could just say that you need to go to a manned booth. And from my experience there they stamp you out without asking.

JB - if the stars line up, you could get much faster from Changi to JB flying via KL than overland There are also a lot of chauffeured services from Changi to JB, where you pass immigration/customs without getting out of the car.

invisible

Seems you have not been in Singapore yet, otherwise you would not be such optimist.

From Changi to the bus stop at Woodlands Checkpoint it is 90 minutes minimum using MRT - You need to change twice at Tanah Merah and City Hall. Then you need to wait for bus at Marsiling. Bus can come in 2 min or in 20.min. Now, there are just three bus stops from MRT to the train checkpoint but if the road is jammed you might spend more time standing in that bus than walking that three stops. That's from personal example.

Then - while immigration to/from Singapore won't take much time, you have no guarantees what Malaysian customs situation looks like. My personal example - two hours and 15 min wait on that side on arrival. Granted, it was on three days weekend but still - you need to expect that it won't be breeze.

Finally - did you already bought the train ticket? Because you should not count that you can walk in and get that ticket - you are not alone. You can go to JB Sentral to Woodlands KTM & ETS Train Ticket Online Booking | KTMTrain.com and key in your date and see if train tickets on either or both directions are available.

invisible

One of the reasons using shuttle train is to avoid jam. The only time you can get from Singapore to Johor without much delay and via car would be something like 3AM in the morning. In all other times - good luck.

WilcoRoger

I had good luck around 9 am on a weekday - drove straight to the immigration booth. Probably helped going against the main flow

invisible

Unless OP lands at 6AM, I doubt he can be at 9AM at Woodlands checkpoint by using MRT. Plus he plans to use train.

quarryking

There are a couple of manned booths at Changi Departures for the most part, but there's no more stamping of the passport even at the manned booth. I passed thru in July and used the manned booth.

alexinc

Did you ask if they could give you a passport stamp?

nzed

I travel to/from JB/Singapore about once a month. 3am in the morning is not necessarily the best time because the trucks jam up the car lanes on both sides and literally nothing gets through until the trucks find room for themselves. I was been stuck in a hour+ jam at 4am last month precisely because of this.

The best times are usually after 10am/before 4pm on either side....long weekends can be much worse (there were 6 hour+ jams earlier this year) but the middle of the weekend can be surprisingly light.

There are some apps around that give accurate estimates - "beatthejam" is one I use and also shows live CCTV images of current conditions.

quarryking

I noticed there were no stamps as well at the booths like the old days. So the Immigration official just updates the system and that's it. I did inquire if they are stamping passports and was told it's been done away with on the exit.