S'porean passenger leaving M'sia gets off coach to clear immigration, coach then leaves without her

On Jun. 1, Rebecca (not her real name) was heading back to Singapore from Malaysia on a Cityline Bus she had booked.

Passengers, who bought tickets for the ride to take them back to Singapore, were instructed to disembark for immigration clearance at the Second Link.

Rebecca told Mothership this took less than 10 minutes.

In emails seen by Mothership, Cityline claimed the entire "total waiting time at the checkpoint" was approximately 30 minutes, which they claimed was the maximum time they could wait.

By the time she had cleared immigration, the bus that passengers were supposed to board again had departed.

Rebecca told Mothership that she and six other passengers were left behind.

Some of their personal belongings, including jackets, were left on the bus.

According to Rebecca, this all happened without any call or warning from the bus driver.

Emails seen by Mothership appear to back this account of events up.

An email sent to Rebecca by the company said that during peak travel periods, "drivers are unable to monitor the status of individual passengers" inside immigration.

And that the coach, in this case a feeder bus, would depart and continue with the journey after a certain time.

This was purportedly to comply with operational schedules.

Rebecca said that while this was unsettling, the part that made it even worse was that there were no replacement buses at the checkpoint, effectively leaving them stranded and "unsure" how to continue their journey:

"We experienced significant distress, anxiety, and helplessness while trying to find alternative transport arrangements. The incident caused a great deal of emotional stress and disrupted our travel plans completely."

Interview

After multiple emails, the bus operator told Rebecca that their findings revealed that they had operated in accordance with their "standard operating procedures" after investigations.

According to them, they purportedly interviewed the drivers and various passengers, but were unable to disclose who they were to Rebecca.

In their final email, they said that while they apologised for the experience not meeting her expectations, they considered the matter closed.

The two jackets were also not returned, with the company saying in the email that they could not locate it.

They were "unable to determine" whether they were removed by another passenger or disposed of after being left behind.

Based on their investigations, Cityline told Rebecca they were unable to "establish any service failure" on their part.

They told her no refund or compensation for the missing items would be offered.

Rebecca said the jackets were worth about S$200.

Punctuality

A number of Google reviews mentioned the company's issue with punctuality.

Similar issues of checkpoint waiting time were brought up.

Other issues, such as the lack of communication, were also raised.

Mothership has reached out to Cityline for comment.