KTM tickets sold out

Fully booked: A notice about the sold-out tickets being displayed at the counter.

KUALA LUMPUR: Train tickets from here to Penang, Kedah and Perlis for Feb 6 were sold out within an hour after sales commenced, leaving many frustrated with KTM Bhd (KTMB).

It is the day before the eve of Chinese New Year, a national holiday on Feb 8 and 9, except for Kelantan and Terengganu, which only observes the first day. Most Chinese would want to be home for the traditional reunion dinner on the eve.

Angry words were heard at the KTMB ticket counter as attendants announced that tickets to Butterworth and Padang Besar and beyond for Feb 6 were all snapped up after they went on sale at 8.30am yesterday.

Security personnel then tried to pacify a few visibly agitated customers.

A notice at the information counter said north-bound tickets from JB Sentral to Ipoh, Butterworth and Hat Yai for Feb 6 were also sold out.

It is understood that some queued up as early as 6.30am just to secure their tickets under KTMB’s system of selling tickets not more than 30 days in advance, including the travel date. For example, tickets for Feb 7, 8 and 9 will only be available on Jan 9, 10 and 11 respectively.

Customers headed for Ipoh, such as lawyer Chen Li Ling, told The Star that they had difficulty logging into KTMB’s servers to book e-tickets.

Based on his past experience with KTMB’s e-ticketing system, a regular commuter, who wished to be known only as Chung, said he arrived at KL Sentral at 7.20am to take a number to buy a pair of Feb 6 tickets for Ipoh.

“When I arrived, there were more than 200 customers ahead of me.

“I was able to get my tickets only at 10am,” said Chung.

Tickets to Ipoh were all sold out by yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, a check with bus ticket aggregator redBus (redbus.sg) showed that bus tickets to the north are still available.

Car-pooling app Tripda (tripda.com.my) is also offering a different way of travelling during the upcoming festive period. A commuter can either request for or offer rides through the app, which will attempt to match requests.

Intercity train schedules are found at ktmb.com.my.