Tickets still available despite brisk sales

PETALING JAYA: Express bus passengers have been assured that seats are still available as bus operators have prepared additional services for the Chinese New Year exodus this week.
Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association president Datuk Mohamad Ashfar Ali said while most tickets for various destinations would have been sold out by now, there will still be tickets available for additional bus services.
"Last week, bus operators had reported brisk tickets sales for the Chinese New Year week and the week after.
"Thanks to the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) in making it easy for bus operators to apply for temporary permits, passengers can rest assured that bus tickets will be available for the festive week," he told theSun today.
In order for passengers to not disrupt their "balik kampung" plans, Ashfar advised them to purchase their tickets from authorised personnel such as online ticketing counters and authorised agents.
He also called on passengers to lodge a report with SPAD and the Road Transport Department (JPJ) should the bus driver during the journey speed, smoke or use the handphone.
"If possible do record a video of the act as evidence prior to lodging the report with the authorities," he added.
A check at the city's main bus terminal counters at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) today showed that express bus seats are still available but are selling fast as scores of people queue up to purchase tickets for the festive weekend.
Train operator KTM Bhd (KTMB) said all train tickets to popular destinations this week were sold out by the end of December for trips beginning this week until next week.
An officer on duty at the KTMB call centre told theSun that the majority of tickets were sold out more than a month ago.
"Due to the overwhelming demand during the festive season, we have additional train services for our ETS trains on Jan 26, 30 and 31 for the KL Sentral-Butterworth and the Butterworth-KL Sentral routes.
"For the KL Sentral-Butterworth route the additional departure times are at 7.50am and 4pm respectively while for the Butterworth-KL Sentral route, the departure times are at 11.55am and 10pm respectively," she said.
She added that tickets for the additional train services are still available though selling out fast.