Suasana Edaran Express Bus from JB Larkin Sentral to KL Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS)

If the name Suasana Edaran sounds familiar to something that departs from KL Sentral, you’re right. While Suasana Edaran is known on the KL Sentral-klia2-KLIA route for their premium Super VIP seating at regular 2+2 seating prices, Suasana Edaran has now expanded down south to Johor Bahru Larkin Sentral. I thought it would be fun to try out the KLIA airport bus from Larkin, so I booked a midnight departure to get to KL with Suasana Edaran.

Johor Bahru Larkin Sentral

Arriving at Larkin Sentral from SBS Transit Bus Service 170, I spotted something amiss at the island platform.

Yup, Suasana Edaran is indeed using the exact same airport buses for the Larkin-TBS route, complete with the livery destination still showing KL Sentral-klia2.

JB Larkin Sentral Boarding Pass

Boarding procedures at JB Larkin Sentral is still the same, so it’s off to the ticket counters to retrieve my boarding pass. I made my Suasana Edaran bus booking online through BusOnlineTicket as they did not charge an admin fee. An admin fee for Suasana Edaran is charged on Easybook.

A reminder on the RM2 boarding pass charge is displayed on the ticket counter window. JB Larkin Sentral charges RM2 for boarding pass and facilities from 1 January 2022.

Parting with RM2 to Larkin Sentral. Must be good money to be collecting RM2 from every passenger.

My very expensive receipt-like paper boarding pass costing RM2. This is in addition to the bus fare of RM35 on BusOnlineTicket.

JB Larkin Sentral Departure Hall

Heading to the departure hall 30 minutes before departure.

Scanning my boarding pass on the CTS ticket gates at the departure hall. That’s the function of my RM2 that I just paid to Larkin Sentral.

The departure hall of Larkin Sentral.

Do note that no toilet facilities are available in the departure hall. Toilets are available outside in the public area before entering the departure hall only. toilets are chargeable at 30 sen per entry. The RM2 boarding pass and facilities charge does not allow you to use the toilet.

Taking a seat which feels compulsory since the seat feels like the main facility that I just paid for.

Bus departures are displayed on the information screens in the departure hall.

An improvement to passenger flow, all buses now depart from just outside the departure hall, instead of the walk needed to the other 2 sheltered berth areas. Buses will drive to the berths just outside the departure hall nearing to departure time.

Suasana Edaran Express Bus

My Suasana Edaran Express bus arrived at Platform B13 at 11.50pm – 9 minutes before departure at 11.59pm.

Interestingly, the Suasana Edaran destination sign says Seremban, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and Singapore. Could this be an upcoming route?

The interior of the Suasana Edaran Express Super VIP 2+1 seating bus. Do note that Suasana Edaran Express buses have 30 rows, which means lesser legroom.

My booked seat at 6A.

Pair seats are on the right side of the coach.

The legroom available on board Suasana Edaran Express bus.

USB power sockets are available under the armrests, however, they were not working throughout my bus ride.

There was a bit of commotion with some passengers not following seat numbers and 1 family even using someone else’s booked seat for their bags, resulting in the driver having to firmly arrange passengers so that the bus can depart.

It was a full bus for this midnight departure from JB Larkin to KL TBS.

My Suasana Edaran Express bus departed from JB Larkin Sentral at 12.06am – 7 minutes delayed due to the commotion of irresponsible passengers.

Heading out of JB Larkin Sentral.

PLUS North-South Expressway

Heading on the PLUS North-South Expressway at Skudai Toll Plaza.

R&R Pedas Linggi

The Suasana Edaran bus made a brief stop at R&R Pedas Linggi. However, I didn’t go down as I wanted to catch up on sleep.

Kuala Lumpur Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS)

Arriving at KL Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS).

My Suasana Edaran Express bus arrived at KL Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) at 4.12am, making this a journey time of 4 hours and 13 minutes if counting published departure time, or 4 hours and 6 minutes counting from actual departure time.

Heading up the escalator to the arrival hall.

Heading in to the arrival hall of TBS.

The arrival hall of TBS.

Here, I waited around in the terminal building for about 1.5 hours before heading out to start some early-morning train joyrides before the opening of the MRT Putrajaya Line Phase 2.

Conclusion

It’s interesting to see an airport bus operator expand to inter-city bus services in Malaysia. I’m happy to see that the Suasana Edaran bus from JB Larkin Sentral is still quite new and clean, just like the ones operating on KLIA services.

However, do note that I’m taking Suasana Edaran just for the sake of trying out their new JB service. In the long run, picking a bus operator with 27 seats or less in a Super VIP 2+1 seating bus is a lot more comfortable, especially for an overnight bus service.