Heading to JB next Chinese New Year? Travellers snap up train tickets within 1 day
PHOTO: Lianhe Zaobao file
PUBLISHED ONSeptember 07, 2023 4:40 AMByCandice CaiGoing, going, gone.
Malaysians in Singapore who are intending to take the train home to celebrate the Chinese New Year may soon have to find an alternative route.
According to Shin Min Daily News on Wednesday (Sept 6), tickets from Singapore to Johor Bahru (JB) for Chinese New Year Eve were sold out within a day, after opening for sale on Aug 30.
Malaysian rail corporation Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) had announced in July that it would allow commuters to book train tickets in their desired month of travel, six months in advance.
Advanced sales open at noon every 30th of the month but earlier at 10am for the Shuttle Tebrau which plies the Woodlands Train Checkpoint to JB Sentral route. The journey takes only five minutes.
This means that train tickets for travel in February 2024 commenced on Aug 30 at 10am. And with Chinese New Year falling on Saturday Feb 10 next year, one can imagine the flurry of activity on the website once it opened.
And indeed, a check on the website the next morning by Shin Min found that all tickets for both Chinese New Year Eve (Feb 9) and a day prior were already sold out. For Feb 7, only tickets for the morning trips were left.
The Chinese evening daily reported that as of Tuesday (Sept 5), tickets on least 37 trains departing for JB in the three days leading up to Chinese New Year have been snapped up.
This translates to about 11,000 tickets sold based on their estimates.
When AsiaOne did a quick check on Thursday (Sept 7), only tickets on the earliest train from Woodlands Train Checkpoint departing at 8.30am was left.
The report also noted that with both days of the Chinese New Year public holiday occurring over the weekend, tickets returning to Singapore on Feb 12 and 13 have also been selling fast. Only tickets on the early morning trains before 8am were available.
One lucky traveller who managed to snag a ticket for Chinese New Year Eve told Shin Min that while she's not sure when she would be returning to her hometown of Malacca, she didn't want to waste the opportunity.
Said the woman, surnamed Yan: "The train takes only five minutes to reach JB, and I can save on the time that's usually spent stuck in the Causeway jam."
Yan, who works in the construction industry, added that that she is also considering heading back to Malaysia a day earlier by car.
"I thought I'd buy a ticket on Chinese New Year Eve as a safety measure, if I don't need it later on, I'll get a refund," Yan shared.
Commuters can get a refund on a portion of their ticket price, depending on when it is cancelled. A refund of 75 per cent will be given for cancellations more than 72 hours prior to the train departure time. Only 50 per cent of the ticket price will be refunded if it is cancelled less than 72 hours from the time of departure.
Shin Min noted that while there are fluctuations to the ticket availability due to these cancellations, but these spare tickets are quickly snapped up again.
One Malaysian finance professional who works in Singapore was thankful that he managed to purchase one such "leftover ticket".
"I'm very afraid of the jam or the congestion at the checkpoint. Luckily I managed to buy one of these leftover tickets," said the 29-year-old.
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