HE HAS licences to drive cars, cranes and trucks but it is the bus that Thanaraj Arunasalam has stuck to for the last decade.
The 32-year-old Malacca native has been working in Singapore for 11 years after arriving here at the age of 21 to become an SBS bus driver.
In those early years, he would return home on the express buses that ply between Singapore and Malaysia.
It was during his conversations with the drivers that he found out about openings for a similar job.
Seeing it as a chance to go home more often, he applied and got a job at Transtar Travel six years ago.
The father of two works an average of six days a week, driving the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route and making the five-hour journey twice a day with another driver.
He usually rotates with the other driver during a toilet break halfway to KL. He gets one or two hours' rest before making the return trip.
During the busy seasons, he might even have to make a third trip up again, he says.
It's a tiring job but drivers are used to it, he says. "I sometimes find it hard to sleep on a bed as I'm so used to sleeping on a chair."
The pay makes up for the hard work. During peak seasons like the school holidays, he can make up to $3,000 per month - about $1,000 more than his regular pay.
Mr Arunasalam says knowing one's own limits is important. "Sometimes, you may feel really tired for some reason. So you must let your partner take over," he says.
Indeed, having a second driver around is a key difference.
He says he has heard of drivers in Malaysia reporting for work alone so they can pocket the pay for two people. "If the firms don't check, they will keep doing it. But Transtar does regular spot checks," he says.
Transtar is a Singapore company which is more than 20 years old and has a fleet of more than 20 buses.
Twelve of these are First Class buses - 16-seater vehicles with massage chairs, video-on-demand and hot food served.
Besides Kuala Lumpur, its buses also head to Penang, Ipoh, Malacca and Taiping.
Transtar's senior sales manager Molly Chittick says the company assigns five drivers to every two buses, with one always on standby in case another should fall ill.
She says the company's 40 to 50 drivers work full-time and it hands out awards to motivate them.
The company named Mr Arunasalam Best Driver last year, based on his driving record and positive feedback from the passengers.
"He treats his bus like a baby, that's how well he takes care of it and his passengers," adds Ms Chittick.
