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Express buses take on budget carriers, offer airline food

Other News Materials 15 August 2008 06:03 (UTC +04:00)

(dpa) - Express coaches travelling between Singapore and Malaysia are gearing up to compete with budget carriers by serving airline food and improving services, a news report said Friday.

Offering meals prepared by airline caterers and training staff to be more polished, are among the enticements, the Straits Times reported.

Transtar Travel, which has a fleet of 47 coaches and runs the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route 12 times a day, is engaging Singapore Airport Terminal Services for the trip north and Delifrance for the return.

Transtar executive director Sebastian Yap said the two-meal choices currently available will be expanded to five next month.

More than 1.3 million people take fast coaches from Singapore to Malaysia annually, the report said, with one in three going to Kuala Lumpur. An estimated 2.5 million air trips are made between the two points.

With fuel surcharges, the round trip on a low-cost airline can cost between 150 Singapore dollars (107 US dollars) to more than 300 Singapore dollars (153 US dollars).

Average round trip fares on coaches start at 40 Singapore dollars (28 US dollars) and go up to 130 Singapore dollars (92 US dollars).

For housewife Lim Hwee Yuen, the price matters. "If the bus is cheaper and as the service is getting better all the time, I would take the bus," she was quoted as saying.

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