Bus transportation from Renaissance Hotel in Johor Bahru

I'll be visiting Singapore/Malaysia at the end of the year and I'm looking to stay at the Johor Bahru Renaissance in Malaysia; just across the border from Singapore. I'm sure there are great value hotels in Singapore but I'm looking to earn Marriott nights and the Renaissance is far cheaper than my other 2 Marriott options in Singapore.

My question is as follows: In this photo taken from a room at the JB Renaissance, I believe I see bus stops on both sides of JB East Coast Hwy (Hwy 35). Are there buses which stop at this location which will take me to Larkin Bus Terminal or any other locations from which I can continue on to a Singapore bound bus?

Feel free to offer comments on my overall plan of touring Singapore from JB as well.

Best Answer

I would strongly advise you to reconsider your plan. That hotel is not even in Johor Bahru city, but a good 10 km away.

Public transport in JB is pretty abysmal: bus route information is hard to find, signage is bad, frequencies are sparse and the service is unreliable. You'd probably be best off taking a taxi direct to JB Sentral, but they're pretty mercenary as well and will rip you off if they can.

Once you get there, you'll have to fend with the crowds at Malaysian immigration, take a bus to cross the border, deal with more crowds on the Singapore side, continue by bus to Kranji MRT, and then ride to the city for the better part of an hour. This can easily take two hours on a good day, and most days around Xmas/NY are bad. And when it's time to head back, you get to do all this in reverse!

So I'd advise you to either pony up and stay at the Marriott in Singapore itself (which is extremely centrally located right off Orchard Rd), or forget the points and stay in a cheaper local hotel.