How To Make KTM Shuttle Tebrau Train Passengers Happily Pay Up To 12 Times More For Their Ticket

The KTM Shuttle Tebrau train is a highly-popular yet infrequent train service (Singapore’s rail transport standards) between Woodlands CIQ, Singapore and JB Sentral, Malaysia, with high-demand tickets selling out within 15 seconds after opening for sale at 8.30am 30 days before departure.

Despite the high fare price of up to RM32 (S$10) for a return ticket, higher than the disputed proposed one-way RTS fare of RM15 which was claimed to be “too high”., passengers are still so willing to pay for this fare, even camping online a whole month in advance. The Shuttle Tebrau is indeed a preferred and affordable rail transport for people crossing the border.

Since my previous idea to increase the Shuttle Tebrau train frequency was probably too technical and didn’t gain any traction at all (no pun intended), I have here another idea on how to increase KTM’s revenue out of the Shuttle Tebrau train service with a very simple and low-cost method.

Currently, based on the train’s frequency as well as the immigration and customs clearing capacity, 320 passengers per train is a comfortable number to provide a safe, reliable, comfortable and sustainable rail service on time and every time. Since it’s quite comfortable, I believe it is possible to push the number of passengers up by just a little bit – 36 more passengers.

Not at existing standards though.

AFC (Air-Conditioned First Class)

Introducing the AFC (Air-Conditioned First Class) coach. The AFC consists of 36 seats in a 2+1 configuration. The AFC is always attached to the Shuttle Tebrau rake whenever there is a Royal, Ministerial or VIP visit. All KTM needs is one spare AFC coach (which is usually available – see Royal Ekspres Selatan 42up on 9 July 2020) to be attached on the Shuttle Tebrau rake and set higher fares.

Former Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan (Singapore) on board the special AFC attached to the Shuttle Tebrau rake for his site visit to Bukit Chagar RTS Station on the RTS Link.

Source: Khaw Boon Wan

Here’s the existing fare structure of the Shuttle Tebrau using ASC coaches:

From 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ to 🇲🇾 JB Sentral (one way)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM16
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM16
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$5

From 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ to 🇲🇾 JB Sentral (return/two ways)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM32
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM32
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$10

From 🇲🇾 JB Sentral to 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ (one way)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM5
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM5
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$5

From 🇲🇾 JB Sentral to 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ (return/two ways)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM10
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM10
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$10

Here’s my proposed fare structure for the additional Shuttle Tebrau AFC coach:

From 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ to 🇲🇾 JB Sentral (one way)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM60
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM60
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$20

From 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ to 🇲🇾 JB Sentral (return/two ways)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM120
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM120
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$40

From 🇲🇾 JB Sentral to 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ (one way)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM60
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM60
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$20

From 🇲🇾 JB Sentral to 🇸🇬 Woodlands CIQ (return/two ways)
KTM Shuttle Tebrau Ticketing System: RM120
JB Sentral Ticket Counter: RM120
Woodlands CIQ Ticket Counter: S$40

As this is a premium service, I think the fare should be fixed regardless of direction, and the cross-border bus and train fare arrangement at the end of the Interchangeability Agreement on 8 May 1973 where passengers pay in Malaysian Ringgit or Singapore Dollars depending on the country of departure should not apply. To further protect the possibility of being a public transport service, tickets for the AFC service could be sold under KTM Holidays & Event Management as a charter service rather than a public transport service.

With the additional AFC coach, there will be an additional 36 seats being sold at such a high price, bringing a total revenue from the AFC alone per train to RM2160 or S$720, in addition to the minimum existing revenue of RM1600 based on a southbound JB to Woodlands train with all 320 passengers paying RM5 per ticket.

With one single AFC coach, I have more than doubled KTM’s revenue on just 1 train. The fare is also not unreasonably high.

Of course, you would now ask the most obvious question: “Who on earth would pay RM60 to travel for 5 minutes from JB to Woodlands?”

Well, the question is not on the type of service, but on the possibility of even getting a train ticket. Since tickets are already selling so fast, demand for tickets are very clearly exceeding the supply on peak days. Instead of adopting a “flexi fare” which is hard to figure out for ETS trains even until today, I thought it would be simpler to just classify the fare based on travel class.

Also, setting the fares simply double of existing fares will still generate over-demand which is not what my intention is – previous tiket ulat scalpers sold tickets for a much higher price than that.

Imagine that you are a white-collar worker who lives in JB and commutes to Singapore every weekday morning. There is an important office meeting in the morning, and the regular seats on the 7.00am is sold out – not a surprise at all. There are 5 seats left on the AFC coach. What do you do? Get stuffed on the Causeway Link bus or take the train?

Or imagine that you are returning back to Singapore from JB on a Sunday night, whether you are a worker, daytripper or tourist. All trains are obviously sold out, as usual, no surprise, and there are 5 seats left on the AFC coach. What do you do? Queue 2 hours for immigration and get the bus, or take the RM60 train and be done with border controls in less than 30 minutes in total?

I’m sure I’m not alone to be willing to pay RM60 for a Sunday night ticket back from JB to Woodlands. In fact, I’m even more worried that even with this premium fare, it would still be sold out anyway since there are only 36 seats per train on the AFC.

But KTM Berhad may ask, “Tak cukup koc lah. Kalau AFC rosak macam mana?”

My solution is this. It’s not going to be popular, but it is typical KTM standards nowadays – just remove it to repair it, and let the train run without the AFC coach temporarily. The existing 4 ASC coaches would easily fit 36 more people on them. After all, people booked on the AFC would most likely be looking just to secure a ticket across the border rather to get comfortable for the journey.

(If you’re looking to get comfortable in your seat on the 5 minutes from JB Sentral to Woodlands CIQ or vice-versa, then yes, I would be questioning you on why on earth did you bother buying the RM60 ticket.)

So, KTM Berhad, your RM1 annual profit is potentially possible. I’m very sure that there are at least 36 people on a Sunday night who are very willing to pay RM60 to travel from JB Sentral to Woodlands CIQ.

KTM Berhad, and all who are reading this article, please help to feedback this idea to the relevant agencies. I promise you, KTM Berhad, that I will be a regular customer on the 5-minute RM60 AFC ride on the Shuttle Tebrau during peak periods when all regular tickets are sold out.

To everyone out there – running the Shuttle Tebrau is not KTM Berhad’s sole decision. There are many agencies involved for this cross-border service. It’s not easy.

To all other relevant agencies, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Singapore Customs, Land Transport Authority (LTA), Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia, Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia, Kementerian Pengangkutan Malaysia, Agensi Pengangkutan Awam Darat (APAD), Transport Ministers and any other relevant agencies, please allow for flexibility of the Shuttle Tebrau train service for the convenience of all passengers.