KUALA LUMPUR: Public transport is the preferred mode of travel for most Malaysians returning to their hometowns as a Bernama survey showed tickets are selling out ahead of Aidiladha on Thursday (June 29).
Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) senior manager (operations) Faizal Redza Redzuan said for the Aidiladha celebrations this year, his team prepared about 218,000 tickets for travel to all destinations in Peninsular Malaysia for the June 23 to July 2 period, and as of now, about 180,000 tickets have been snapped up.
He said tickets for trips to the east coast are almost 100% sold out while trips to the north and south show sales of 80% and 65% respectively.
"We are aware that during festive seasons, TBS is a focal point as it caters to travel to nearly 147 destinations in the peninsula with 119 bus companies providing services.
"I would advise the public not to wait till the last minute because we already know the demand for tickets is very high," he said when met by Bernama at the TBS here today (June 27).
Faizal Redza said although most of the tickets are nearly sold out, as many as six express bus operators had participated to provide additional buses with an additional 20 trips per day.
He said there is no increase in bus fares, and the TBS authorities as well as the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) will continuously monitor the situation and fares imposed by express bus operators.
Meanwhile, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB), in a statement to Bernama, said it has prepared four extra units of electric train service (ETS) for the Aidiladha festive season for the KL Sentral-Butterworth-KL Sentral and KL Sentral-Padang Besar-KL Sentral routes.
The additional trains involved are offering a total of 7,560 tickets from June 27 to July 2, with only 940 tickets remaining as of today.
"For tickets on June 29, 2023, KTMB is offering a total of 24,634 tickets involving the ETS, KTM Intercity and Tebrau shuttle (JB Sentral-Woodlands-JB Sentral). There are only 5,888 tickets available for travel on June 29,” it said.
KTMB is also providing four Ekspres Lambaian Aidiladha (ELA) services to the east coast and offering a total of 1,864 tickets for the KL Sentral-Tumpat-KL Sentral route, and tickets for the first ELA trip have been sold out.
"Following the overwhelming response, KTMB has added two more ELA train services offering 952 tickets, and there are still 324 tickets left.
"The second ELA service from Stesen KL Sentral-Tumpat is on June 27, and it departed at 11am. The journey from Stesen Tumpat-KL Sentral will be on July 2 (Sunday) at 6pm," according to the statement.
Meanwhile, KTMB urges its passengers to use face masks throughout the train journey to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and also to arrive at the station at least 30 minutes earlier to facilitate documentation at the entrance. - Bernama
