A Series of Unfortunate events 4

I never imagined that a routine trip from KL to Singapore would be very eventful during the Raya Holidays. It sucks & wears me out. All that I described below happens in chronological order.

So many things happens within that 1 hour, I realised that I’m having a serious adventure with the Malaysian public transportation system rather than a routine trip back to work. I wonder if it is because of inefficiency of the system or because the Malaysian public transportation just got from bad to worse? or just me being careless ??? It reminds me alot about the scene that on one episode of Discovery Channel on the Shanghai Bus Terminal.

First, what’s so regular about my routine travel schedule. Buy ticket at least a couple weeks in advance & come travel time, go to the agreed departure place & board the designated bus / train to my destination. A few hours later, I’ll arrive at my destination.

Since I got back to Maluri early & the bus is only due to leave at 4.30pm, I got mom to drop me at the Kepong KTM Komuter station at 3.30pm so that I can get to Puduraya on my own. 1 hour is more than enough to get to Puduraya station. After for the Komuter for 15 minutes & watching 2 trains to Rawang passed by, there’s an announcement that the Komuter train to KL will be late by 40 minutes. Feeling unsure if the announcement is correct, I check with the counter to see if the announcement of delay is wrong. Hell scream in with joy when KTM confirmed that the delay IS for 40 MINUTES. I don’t have 40 minutes to spare. (@_@)

I immediately got my refund & get a cab to Pudu immediately. Had a good chat with the cab uncle & paid him some extra tips for the good ride. Besides, I don’t want to grapple with more coins in my pocket so I just let him have the change as tips. Reached Puduraya 15 minutes later & hmm … there don’t seemed to be lot’s of busses & traffic at Puduraya when I arrived. Things looks good so far. RM15 well spend. (^-^)

I then rushed over to the counter to find out the number of the bus departing for the day. The moment the lady says the bus departs at Bukit Jalil (BJ), my jaws dropped straight to the floor. (Hell screamed with even more joy & is having a great party celebrating their success)

What the … ! (@o@)

Bukit Jalil is a good 10-15 KM away & it’s already 4pm ! Judging from my experience with KL traffic, how in the world will I be able to get there in 30 minutes ! For that 1 minute, time stopped & images of me going back to Kepong for another night & returning to SG only the next day is already flashing at the speed of light through my mind. Then she told me that there is a shuttle bus to BJ just right in front of the station. (T_T)

Still in disbelief & shock, I boarded the shuttle bus (after being told 5 times & lead to the bus) & managed to hop on my bus at BJ just in time for departure. I’m one of the last passenger to board the bus. I even got into the wrong seat but the calm seat coordinator dealt with the other passanger. (@_@)

I’m not informed about the changes of the departure place. I almost screamed that the lady over the counter cause I’m totally not aware of the changes & only found out about it 1/2 hour before the bus departs. When I asked when was the changes made she told me that I should be aware cause it’s about a week since they made the change. With a jaw dropping face, I told the lady there’s no way I would know about it as the ticket are brought at least 3 weeks in advance & brought in SG. Who will actually call the bus company to check every now & then to see if there is any changes in the departure location? As far as I know, many don’t. Many will just check the departure & arrival place & time during the purchase of the ticket & let it be untill the day they made the trip.

Thank god she’s smart enough to take a second look at the ticket & realise that the date of purchase is almost month ago & called the driver at BJ to wait for me to arrive.

Back in SG, I’ve spoken with some friends who had experienced the same problem. What ever that happened (except for the Komuter) seemed to be common. They will change the departure location a week or so before the actual departure date without informing those who brought the tickets weeks in advance. The experience left them worried about missing their transport that they resorted to call the bus company 1 day before the departure date to ensure that they have the place right.

I think I may have to do the same thing in future. Now, instead of the bus operators providing us a good service, we as the consumer have to take our own due diligence steps to ensure that we know where to board the bus. Way to go Malaysia !