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Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Singapore, Singapore
1 post
19 helpful votes
Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

*** I would give ZERO stars if I could. Disgusting interiors and terrible customer service from the company. This is a review of my own experience in order to help other travelers make a choice on buses from SG to KL and back. ***

We selected the SOLITAIRE bus from SG to KL, swayed by some positive online reviews and pictures of the amazing lush interiors.

We could not have been more wrong with our choice.

The bus interior, despite some glowing online reviews and pictures, was disgusting. Some seats could not adjust the tilt or elevation. Some of chairs even have the "massage" feature broken. Some screens can't be used. It's a good thing that the bus was so empty that we could change our seats as we pleased. But yet, all the seats were severely lacking in decent maintenance and were filthy and disgusting; we had to brush out the dirt and gunk like peanut shells, and even had to wipe down the seats, armrests, controls, and screens with a wet wipe. Paint, plastic, and even the faux leather were chipping or cracked. There is a cubby hole meant for your bags, but it's filled with used tissue papers and garbage from another time. Probably from last year. The windows were smeared with the greasy Brylcreem of some old uncle, and the curtains had a rancid smell.

Nonetheless, seeing that we were duped and had no other recourse, we braved on from Singapore (at the Golden Mile Complex office) heading towards KL. Everything seemed okay passing the Singapore/Malaysian checkpoint, and once into Johor, we stopped by a gas station to pick up two service staff and our lunch meal.

The service staff were very nice, served us our drinks and lunch which consisted of Nasi Lemak from Killiney Kopitiam. Unfortunately, instead of some basic Nasi Lemak we would hope to at least get, this Nasi Lemak was far from our expectations. It was served with some lackluster Lemak rice, some anchovies and peanuts, a meager amount of sambal balacan, and... chicken nuggets.

Reaching KL was okay. The return trip wasn't much better, just that their office had a waiting area and provided air conditioning, coffee, and tea. Otherwise, the bus interior wasn't any better. Food back was a lunchbox of some chicken rice dish that tasted very weird.

Then the horror started. We went past Malaysian customs without a hitch, but going through Singapore customs took an excruciatingly long time. And when we finally got out of the immigration area, we were shockingly dumbfounded to witness the bus reverse out of the bus bay, and then proceeded to leave without us. It was too far away for us to do anything to stop it.

I called Transtar Travel immediately and requested for help, or what I should do. Lady on the line put me on hold for a solid 12 minutes, and when she got back to me, she just asked me to take a taxi back. I asked her if the company was going to reimburse me for the cost, she said no. I then asked her if I should engage my lawyer, then she quickly said "wait ah" and put me on hold for another 5 minutes, and then told me to take the next bus that was on the way. I asked her what time does the bus reach the immigration, she said in about 2 more hours. Which if you add on another hour's wait at the immigration area, that means 3 more hours before we can leave the immigration checkpoint!

We gave up. We had to pay another $2.50/pax (total $5) to take a bus to Jurong East, then from there another $30 for a cab just to get home.

If you're really on a tight budget, and really MUST take this bus, just go last minute and purchase a ticket from the office, and it'll save you 15 or more dollars. Just don't expect the beautiful pictures you see online, and expect to possibly get left behind at the customs. For us, we will never ever take Transtar Travel again!

Singapore, Singapore
Destination Expert
for Singapore, Singapore
31,878 posts
26 helpful votes
1. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

If you were stuck at Immigration for a long time, then the risk the bus will leave without you is there. There is a limit to how long they can wait for you. Did you exceed that stated time limit? It is really not that big of a deal to take your own transport to your destination in Singapore. Some passengers voluntarily choose to make their own way back at this point and not return to the bus. If this had happened the reverse way (SIN to KL), you would have been in more serious trouble.

Edited: 6 years ago
Singapore, Singapore
4,765 posts
49 helpful votes
2. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Indeed the reviews of a few premium bus operators are good...

I use Transtar often across the different classes & have enountered situations where the bus interior conditions are no ideal .. but have never been left behind by Transtar so far... for last few years ..

For the only time i was left behind , 1 big group of Malaysians called both Singapore & Malaysia office of Konsortium & informed them.. think they had threatened to pit up all this info on twitter , facebook & youtube... a Malaysian express bus came to fetch us after a while LOL..

I did nothing & watch all the Malaysian aunties get aggressive on their phones ..☺

So i guess we will sometimes get the worse service from ao called good operators & sometimes lovely service from so called cheap buses...

My last few Starmart rides had lots of massage seats that no longer can massage!!!

I use Eltabina more often nowadays ..

Hope u have better luck next time!!

3. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Hands up for ur comments! All seats can’t incline and leg rest spoilt. Monitors not working, reading lights down... whatever you can think of , All malfunction ! From Genting Highlands to Singapore had to change 3x coaches which we were not inform at all initially.

Surprisingly even during exchange of coach at JB/Tuas checkpoint, coach driver even told us the wrong coach number. We had to search the whole fleet of coaches there and slowingly reconcile the other 3digits of the Coach number. What a bad journey!

Singapore, Singapore
4,765 posts
49 helpful votes
4. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Bullxxxt post#3 ..

I've taken the best to worse buses from Singapore to different parts of Malaysia since i started travelling more than 20 years ago , either alone or with friends...

I've never sat in a bus that everything is spoilt , needless to say for Transtar..

Even for the small Malaysian bus companies that i had to change buses 3 times , none had a situation that all seats can't recline & all legrests spoilt.. some maybe not all..

I certainly can't say i've taken all the buses in Transtar's fleet of course .. but at least 10 times or more with the better bus companies...

Even for Qistna & Pacific Express i've taken more than 5 times...

From JB Checkpoint , you are linked to Woodlands Checkpoint ..

Tuas Checkpoint is linked to CIQ Second Link , not JB.. U can Teleport between the 2 Checkpoints?

Post#3 is not believable , at least to me...

Cheers

Scooby

Singapore, Singapore
2 posts
8 helpful votes
5. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Dear Transtar

On our return trip from One Utama, Kuala Lumpur on 10 December 2018, we were informed that our original booking of the solitaire bus scheduled to depart at 11 am broke down hence we have to take the 12 noon VIP coach instead and you will arrange for the refund accordingly.

Please advise the refund process. As per ticket below, we purchased 4 solitaire bus tickets.

I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the lapse of service rendered by Transtar.

Trip to Jalan Imbi from SG on 7 Dec 2018 -

1. Broken Entertainment System and not informing passengers prior

We paid a premium to enjoy the full services your Solitaire coaches provide only to find out in disappointment that Transtar did not deliver what was marketed. The entertainment system provided on the coach is an important criterion for any travellers travelling on a long distance coach. The fact that your entertainment system was NOT WORKING was completely kept from your passengers. It was only when I enquired with your service attendant onboard after we've entered Malaysia that the entertainment system broke down. This is highly unprofessional and leads to severe disappointment we have in Transtar

2. Lack of toilet stops

Shockingly, Transtar seems to think that any human beings will visit the toilet only once every 8 hours. The whole coach journey took more than 8 hours and there is only ONE PATHETIC toilet stop. We felt like a refugee onboard, having to hold our bladder till we reach Jalan Imbi.

And yes, we did check with the service attendant if there will be another toilet stop soon when we feel that we can no longer hold our bladder but we were informed that the coach is already on its way to Jalan Imbi. I urge you to please look into this and increase the number of toilet stops. Even if the original journey without traffic jams should be around 6 hours, ONE toilet stop is definitely insufficient. What's the point of serving coffee and tea on board when you deprive your passengers of their bio break?

Trip from One Utama to SG on 10 Dec 2019

3. Lack of toilet stops, yet again

Again, throughout the 6-hour journey, there is only one toilet stop. In all of our other travels by coach to KL, there have been at least 2 toilet stops.

4.. Change of coach part I

After we reached Malaysia custom, bus driver merely informed to bring our bags down. We are NOT INFORMED that we need to change to a different bus after clearing immigration. A bunch of us and other passengers waited perpetually for the original bus only to realise some of the passengers boarded a different bus. Lo & behold, you are lucky that the passengers can somehow still run through the cleared immigrations via the road, back to the original bus to claim our personal items. The china driver at the Malaysia custom was so rude, he didn't respond to any of our questions and merely gestured for us to load our luggage.

5. Change of coach part II.

SG immigration. What we thought was the worst nightmare ain't over yet. Upon clearing the immigration and waiting for what seemed like perpetual to us ( a good 30 minutes), the Transtar coach did not appear at the bus bay, leaving all of the passengers dumbfounded. Someone then mentioned that she saw the original bus drove off without us which caused an unnecessary panic among the passengers. It was sometime later that a replacement bus came and informed that the bus prior has a punctured tyre. Why can't the previous bus driver inform the passengers?

It was a horrible experience with Transtar. With all of our coach travels, we have NEVER encountered anything like this. Your service is epic on its own and we will not recommend Transtar to all of our contacts. Please do train and educate your bus drivers to communicate with the passengers properly.

Singapore, Singapore
6 posts
94 helpful votes
6. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Thanks for the review. Will avoid

Singapore, Singapore
11 posts
7. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Sarah is the one who do our booking and she didn't convey the message that we need to walk to their head office to take the bus back to Singapore when we do the booking. We only knew it when we reach their office at Golden Mile on actual day to collect the tickets to KL. They just give us a map on how to walk to the hotel from their head office when they drop us at KL and from our hotel to their KL office to take their bus back to Singapore. They don't even bother to pick us up at our hotel. We have 2 kids and 2 elderly and they expect us to see the map and walk with our heavy lugguages. I saw other travel agency all pick up the tourists behind the hotel but Transtar does not do that. When we check with Sarah, she say they don't have hotel approval to park there and they don't pick up tourists at hotel. This is so ridiculous !!!

This is the WORST and TERRIBLE Bus Service experience I had with TRANSTAR. Other tour agency don't have this problem.

The bus even break down on 1st Jan 2019 when we go back Singapore. Their bus didn't send for servicing at all. Bus is old, moudly and dirty with cockroaches as well. Didn't maintain at all and windscreen also cracked. When the bus got problem, it was not communicate at all till we went down the bus to ask. We waited more than 1 hour for another bus to come. We still need to switch bus and it is raining heavily. We called back KL branch to ask and they keep saying the bus will come in 30 min then 15 min but we waited more than 1 hour plus. We called Singapore branch and a lady Nancy just answer say they will check and never get back and their manager Sarah was on leave. The management really cannot make it.

DO NOT TAKE TRANSTAR BUS !!!

Singapore, Singapore
4,765 posts
49 helpful votes
8. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

@Post#7 ,

As far as i know , there is absolutely ZERO Express Bus companies that picks up passengers from their hotels..

Those with a pickup bus or van are from Fully Packaged Tours or Day Tours...

Aeroline No Pick Up from Hotel.

Transtar No Pick Up from Hotel.

First Coach No Pick Up from Hotel.

Luxury Coach No Pick Up from Hotel.

NICE No Pick Up from Hotel.

Grassland No Pick Up from Hotel.

Sri Maju No Pick Up from Hotel...

Etc , etc , etc ...

Hotel pickup service from Express Bus companies absolutely does not exist at all , in any part of Peninsular Malaysia..

So you should have done your homework to know this..

Unfortunate about the bus breakdown & everything that happened..

I've experienced quite a few bus breakdowns in Malaysia & none were quickly resolved..

Most bus companies do not just have idling buses & bus drivers on standby for breakdown throughout Malaysia so bus breakdowns are always going to be horrible ...

Cheers

Scooby

Singapore
1 post
88 helpful votes
9. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Hello Scooby,

Are you the owner of Transtar or working for Transtar?? Perhaps, you would like to see to all the constructive feedbacks in the shoe of all your customers rather than denying or rebutting every REAL feedbacks.

Also, I would prefer that you made positive progress on the condition of your coaches and send all your staffs (perhaps, yourself too) for customer service training. 😊

Cheers, and don't get so angsty. Focus on improving your business.

Edited: 5 years ago
Singapore, Singapore
4,765 posts
49 helpful votes
10. Re: Transtar Travel - Solitaire Bus from SG to KL

Hi Sharlene ,

I'm not the owner of Transtar..

If i'm , i won't be staying at 1* ~ 2* guesthouses in Phnom Penh , Ho Chi Minh City , Sihanoukville , different parts of Thailand & Philippines..

U are from HCMC .. I stayed in a cheap guesthouse in Bui Vien known as Havy Hotel.. i am a big bus company owner & i stay in a cheap guesthouse that is classified as 1* ??

Do a search in the Tripadvisor reviews & even Agoda..

I did both reviews at almost the same time..

Any person who has even taken a few bus rides in Singapore & Malaysia will know if i'm truthful or ??

I say good things about WTS Travel , Eltabina , Aeroline ..

Even pretty good stuff about the average Starmart & even the badly maligned Qistna Express..

Also i wrote good stuff in the Malaysia TA Forum about Konsortium , KPB Express , Transnasional , Plusliner , Meridian Holidays , etc ..

I did nit have good views about Seasons Express , KKKL , & The One Travels..

Some travellers have the $$ but are lousy travellers who are in thread postings they have no knowledge about..

Do a search in the forum to see how many posts i have written on bus rides before u accuse..

If you don't know about the bus companies i'm talking about , really u should step aside because you are just joining in an argument u know next to nothing about...

Although this is not the 1st time that Loser travellers accuse me of some fictional stuff , when they somehow felt offended , i do have to identify myself towards useless posts..

I have always been blunt & will never change , to give in to those who argue nonsense & create fiction out of nothing..

Out of nothing at all..

I may not have travelled to as many places as you did , do not have as much $$ to stay in possibly expensive places or eat luxuriously , but i do know my bus rides...

So kindly step aside or point out to me 1 single bus company that provides hotel pickup..

I talk about Virak Buntham , Paramount Angkor , Phnom Penh Sorya in Phmom Penh..

I mentioned my pretty enjoyable bus rides with Phnom Penh Sorya..

Also Lignite Tours in Bangkok is mentioned by me..

Ceres Liner in the Visayas region of Philippines as well..

Dammmned .. i'm a rich owner of multiple bus companies & that sounds like a few hundred millions in SGD to me... i'm rich...

Cheers

Scooby

Edited: 6 years ago
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