Express Bus Fares To Increase For This Upcoming Raya Season

Many Malaysians will be travelling back to their hometowns during the upcoming Hari Raya celebration, which is expected to fall on 3 May. With that, the prices of express bus tickets are set to increase between 10% to 20% as the festive period nears.

Starting from 29 April and lasting until 8 May, the express bus fares will cost an additional 10 sen per kilometre above current rates. The President of Pan Malaysia Bus Operators Association Ashfar Ali cited the reason for the increase is to cover the cost of labour and travel, as well as new bus insurance.

As an example, Ashfar pointed out that bus tickets from KL to Larkin will go up from RM30 to RM35, while fares from KL to Kota Bharu will increase by RM4 from RM46.20 to RM50.20.  “A total of 4,700 express buses will operate during this period carrying 141,000 passengers to destinations nationwide,” he said.

Meanwhile, express bus services in Sabah are similarly increasing prices for the festive season, increasing from 13 sen per kilometre to 14.3 sen. However, this pales in comparison to flight ticket prices from the Peninsular to Sabah and Sarawak during the Hari Raya period, which Bernama recently reported to have skyrocketed up to 566%, with return flights going as high as RM2,000.

(Source: Free Malaysia Today)