KUALA LUMPUR: DUE to the worsening flood situation, the east coast is almost inaccessible and many bus services to the region have been cancelled.
Terminal Bersepadu Selatan’s (TBS) Kelantan-bound bus service, for instance, was cancelled on Tueday, when the situation became more serious.
An average of RM30,000, half of the total sales volume, has been refunded to ticket purchasers daily.
“Some of them are holding on to their tickets in the hope that the roads will become more accessible in the coming days,” said Maju TMAS managing director Roslan Mohd Shariff.
“Even with the cancellations, about 40 per cent of the buses still managed to make their way to Kelantan and Terengganu three days ago. But, they only went as far as the closest accessible points, such as Kubang Kerian.”
He said the passengers were aware of the situation, but many of them wanted to go back to their hometowns to be with their families or to lend support to relatives and friends.
“They feel that they need to be there, so the bus operators are looking for routes to get these people back reunited with their loved ones. We are getting real-time updates on the situation,” Roslan said, adding that for now, the trips remain cancelled.
A traveller, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was trying to purchase a bus ticket to Jeli, Kelantan, but there were no tickets left.
“Even with the flood looking worse each passing day, people are still buying tickets.
“This shows that they are still hoping the situation will improve.
“I want to go back to my hometown, Jeli, to spend my New Year holidays with my family.
“I hope the floods will recede soon so there will be more buses heading that way,” he said.
TBS has contributed 20,000 bottles of mineral water and other essential items in aid of flood relief efforts.
The items will be transported to the east coast by the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
TBS is also working with operators which have buses travelling to the affected areas by providing crates of mineral water to be distributed to flood victims.