TBS and Subang airport flooded with eager voters
KUALA LUMPUR: With several hours left till polling today, Kuala Lumpur’s main public transport hub, Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS), is flooded with travellers eager to make it home to vote.
There were long queues at ticket counters, along with travellers sitting on the floor waiting for their buses due to the lack of seats to accommodate the high number of commuters.
TBS managing director Datuk Roslan Sahriff said an estimated 25,000 passengers departed from the terminal on Friday on board more than 1,000 buses to various destinations in the east coast, northern and southern regions.
“I think more tickets were sold this week compared to Hari Raya Aidilfitri. The last time we sold this many tickets was during Raya 2019 as we were hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021,” he added.
As many as 20 companies prepared extra buses to meet the last-minute demand, said Bernama.
Badrul Amin Mohd Ramizu, 25, a traveller waiting to go back to Kuala Lipis, Pahang, to vote, shared that he had travelled here from Penang to return home together with his younger sibling.
He smiled as he explained why he was wearing a t-shirt with the logo of the political party he supported, saying that he knew the terminal had a lot of foot traffic, so he wore the t-shirt with the intention of promoting the party.
First-time voter Alis Nur An-nis’sa Samsul Bahari shared that although she had bought her ticket to Terengganu a month earlier, it was the last ticket available online then.
Meanwhile, travellers also began pouring into the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang at around 10.30am as many had chosen to fly during midday.
Batik Air and Firefly, the two airlines offering flights out of the airport, opened more counters, besides encouraging the use of kiosk machines.
A Firefly spokesman shared that the airline had sent reminders to travellers to check in earlier to avoid congestion at the airport.
Contractor Fad Mus, 42, said he was willing to take an earlier flight on Friday morning from Johor Baru to transit at the airport before continuing on to Kota Baru in order to vote there today.
“I bought my ticket at the end of last month as I didn’t want to have a headache being stuck in traffic if I were to drive. This election is important because there are too many parties and coalitions contesting, so I want to do my part to elect a government,” he added.