The Lunar New Year is fast approaching, and many with loved ones across the Causeway will be looking to secure tickets home during this festive period.
On Sunday (9 Jan), Handal Indah (Causeway Link) announced that they would begin Singapore-Malaysia land VTL ticket sales for the Chinese New Year period – from 1 to 6 Feb – on Monday (10 Jan).
This is the first time the bus operator resumed ticket sales after the freezing of ticket sales last month.
However, most of the tickets have been snapped up in less than 2 hours.
On Sunday (9 Jan), bus operator Handal Indah announced the sales of Singapore-Malaysia land VTL bus tickets between 1 Feb and 6 Feb.
The ticket sales began this morning (10 Jan) at 10am.
In their Facebook post, the bus operator reminded the public that tickets are limited and asked for patience.
But at 11.26am, they left a comment on the same post, saying that tickets for Singapore to Johor trips from 1-6 Feb are sold out.
Only 1 Feb slots are available for Johor to Singapore trips.
Meanwhile, ticket slots for 7 Feb onwards will be announced soon.
Singapore-Malaysia land VTL tickets have always been in hot demand, and this time was no different, especially since it coincides with the festive Chinese New Year period.
From as early as 8am, many started logging into the Handal Indah website.
This netizen shared that even at that time, the 1 Feb VTL tickets were already sold out.
From 8.40am, there was a virtual queue, and many were placed in virtual waiting rooms. The estimated wait time was over an hour.
Subsequently, at around 9.40am, many received the message that the virtual queue had been paused.
At the time of writing, the virtual queue is back up with a waiting time of more than an hour.
Besides Handal Indah, Transtar Travel also operates VTL buses across The Causeway.
Transtar Travel releases tickets every day. Today (10 Jan), the operator released 8 Feb VTL bus tickets for sale.
But similarly to Handal Indah, tickets sold out fast.
According to Transtar Travel’s VTL trip availability report, all tickets to-and-fro Singapore and Johor Bahru from 12 Jan to 8 Feb are sold out.
Many Singaporeans and Malaysians have been separated from their loved ones for long periods throughout the pandemic and will be looking to return home during the festive period.
While the overwhelming response to the bus ticket sales is expected, it could also be caused by the recent reduction of VTL quotas to limit exposure to Omicron cases.
Hopefully, we will see the Covid-19 situation stabilise once again, and more can reunite with their family and friends across the border soon.
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Featured image adapted from Little Red Dot Buses on Facebook and Taufik Bella on Facebook.
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