Yesterday (24 Nov), the launch of the Singapore-Malaysia land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) was announced after much anticipation.
As bus ticket sales started at 8am today (25 Nov), bus operators saw long virtual queues on their sites.
Within 20 minutes, all tickets for the next 30 days on Transtar Travel were sold out. Many also encountered problems on Malaysia bus operator Handal Indah’s website.
At about 8am on Thursday (25 Nov), bus ticket sales for the Singapore-Malaysia land VTL began.
Travellers could get tickets from 2 operators’ websites — Transtar Travel and Handal Indah.
As tickets went on sale, users were directed to virtual waiting rooms.
On the Transtar Travel site, users were placed in a waiting room due to “high user volume”.
Those who got through to the booking site reportedly had 15 minutes to book their tickets. They could make up to 5 bookings per trip.
By 8.23am, tickets on Transtar Travel for the next 30 days were sold out, reported The Straits Times (ST).
Following that, the virtual waiting room was updated informing users that they will only be let into the ticket purchase portal when slots are available.
Malaysia operator Handal Indah, also known as Causeway Link, took to Facebook at around 8.35am to acknowledge the long waiting times and said more trips will be available for booking soon.
Users trying to purchase tickets experienced similar technical issues and long waiting times.
At about 8.50am, there were over 19,000 users in the virtual queue with the waiting time expected to be over an hour.
As of 12.30pm, there were more than 51,000 users in the virtual queue.
The website also informed users that they’ll have 10 minutes to enter the site and make their bookings.
However, while making their bookings, some apparently experienced errors accessing the website.
The scramble for bus tickets comes a day after Malaysia and Singapore announced the commencement of the land VTL on 29 Nov.
As part of the 1st phase, travellers can only get across the Causeway via designated buses.
Additionally, the land VTL is only open to citizens, permanent residents, or long-term pass holders of the country they are entering.
The 2 operators will have 32 VTL bus services entering each country per day, with each trip having a maximum capacity of 45 passengers. This brings the total daily quota of travellers to 2,880.
Authorities said tickets are released 30 days ahead of the departure date and must be booked at least 3 days prior to the date of departure.
It has been 20 months since travels across the Causeway were halted, leaving many separated from their loved ones for long periods.
Hence, the overwhelming response to the bus ticket sales is probably expected.
Hopefully, more tickets will be made available soon so many more can reunite with their family and friends across the borders.
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Featured image adapted from Logeswaran Anpalagan on Facebook and Wei Ern on Facebook.
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