PETALING JAYA: With hordes of Malaysians travelling home for Chinese New Year, it’s all systems go for buses, trains and even planes.
Operators are doing their best to meet surging demand at what is one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
PLUS Malaysia Bhd is prepared for a significant increase in traffic along several major stretches of its highways and Lebuhraya Pantai Timur 2.
It said up to 2.2 million vehicles daily are expected during the peak travel period, mainly on Feb 12, 13 and 14 for outbound journeys from the Klang Valley, and Feb 20-21 for return journeys.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said two additional ETS trips will run for the KL Sentral-Butterworth, KL Sentral-Ipoh, KL Sentral-Padang Besar and JB Sentral-KL Sentral routes between Feb 13 and Feb 22, offering 26,460 extra tickets.
Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association president Datuk Mohamad Ashfar Ali said bus tickets for the KL-Singapore route were already sold out.
“This route is particularly popular, as passengers prefer not having to change modes of transport halfway.
“We will be absorbing the costs to provide extra buses for routes with higher demand,” he said, adding that there will not be drastic increases in fares.
He said routes that go through rural areas where trains do not operate were very popular.
For university student Anne Li, 18, who has not returned to her family home in Taman Desa for over a year, travelling back from Melbourne cost her a fortune due to the peak season hike.
“Although I booked my ticket in October, my return ticket was expensive,” she added.
Li said she felt it was important to spend time with her grandparents.
“Flying home after a year means that I make up for the time I have spent away.
“I also look forward to receiving a lot of red packets from relatives!” she said.
For pensioner Meng Wa, 84, and his wife Choong Sow Lin, 86, taking the train from Kampar to the Klang Valley for the annual reunion dinner with their children is a no-brainer.
“Other than the bus, the train is the natural choice as it offers fuss-free travel all the way to KL Sentral, where we can easily connect to other modes of transport or be picked up by our children,” said the former teacher who bought his train tickets a month ago.
