Costing less than S$2 (HK$11), the journey on the 170 public bus will take you from the northern tip of Singapore over the one-kilometre causeway to the Malaysian town of Johor Bahru. And for sports lovers wanting to avoid forking out steep TV subscription fees to tune into the Fifa World Cup, it could be money well spent.
Outraged football fans are looking at alternative ways of watching the 64 games from South Africa: from attending public viewing parties at community centres and McDonald's outlets, to illegally directing their antennae towards Indonesian free-to-air channels, to making a daily hop over the nearest border.
'I believe some people will go [to Malaysia] for the matches as it's also a good trip to get shopping done,' said John Chua, spokesman for a protest group on social networking site Facebook. 'Singapore fans are very passionate about football, but we don't wish to support greed over fair play and integrity.'
The duty of broadcasting World Cup matches in the city state will be shared by rival cable providers, SingTel and StarHub. Existing customers who missed the early-bird discount will have to pay S$94.16 while the cost to new subscribers ranges from S$147 to S$180, making Singapore possibly the most expensive place in Asia to watch the quadrennial tournament.
Chua is one of the organisers of 'Mass Boycott StarHub/SingTel Overpriced World Cup Package', which has attracted more than 26,000 Facebook members in just over three weeks. The group is encouraging members to not only refuse to subscribe to the World Cup package, but to place an indefinite ban on all brands related to the two telecommunications giants.
Members voiced their displeasure at a rally over the weekend - a 'peaceful demonstration' for which a permit was diligently acquired through Singapore's National Parks Board - at Speaker's Corner near the city's financial district.
The frustration of many Singaporeans mirrors that of football fans in Hong Kong who will need to subscribe to i-Cable to get full World Cup coverage. The opening match, semi-finals and final will be shown on TVB and ATV, but only on one of their digital channels, which the majority of households don't have.
