The demand for bus travel increases throughout the country as ticket sales are a hit during the holidays, according to redBus, Malaysia’s No. 1 bus booking app.
Raya Haji Boost the Demand for Public Buses
Malaysians have now begun to travel freely, with demand for public transport like inter-city buses increasing, according to redBus, the largest bus e-ticketing platform in the world with a customer base of around 20 million users. Compared to the same week a month earlier, redBus had seen a significant 37 percent rise in bus ticket sales during the week preceding Raya Haji.
With domestic demand for bus travel skyrocketing, it further proves that Malaysians now feel confident to commute using public transport, as they gradually revert back to their pre-pandemic travel patterns again.
The Chief Executive of redBus, Prakash Sangam observed an increasing demand for intercity bus transportation.
I think it is safe to say that this is a new phase post-pandemic, where we are witnessing high confidence amongst Malaysians to undertake travel aided by unrestricted access to all parts of the country. The festival of Raya Haji has seen high enthusiasm among the people for travel and the trends point to a strong demand for homecoming. We also see this consumer confidence as a positive sentiment for the Malaysian economy, as we expect the bus travel sector to grow by about 30% over the next 6 months with an addition of up to 5000 new jobs in the Malaysian bus travel sector during the same period.
Prakash Sangam, Chief Executive Officer of redBus
As per redBus, more than 100,000+ bus tickets were sold in the span of 1 week that led up to Raya Haji as people geared up for the long weekend to be back with their friends and family. The highest demand for buses was seen on the KL-Malacca and KL-Johor Bahru routes.
Additionally, the markets which saw the highest growth in ticket sales compared to the month before were KL at 50%, Penang at 44% and Perak at 42%. This increased demand has also allowed bus operators to gradually restore full services as more than 110 bus operators serviced 3000+ routes in the country during the Raya Haji season.
New and Improve Travel Update from redBus
The Senior Vice President of redBus further added:
While redBus is striving to become more accountable for the safety of our customers, drivers, and the environment, we are initiating a comprehensive plan including paperless boarding systems, bus pass for frequent purchasers, servicing additional routes and ferry services, among others, to further drive online distribution. We are also parallelly working closely with the Ministry of Transport and several bus operators to further improve the transportation sector by embracing the worldwide trend for a sustainable and resilient future.
Krishnan Ramaswami, Senior Vice President – SEA Business of redBus
For more information about redBus and its latest updates, please visit redBus’ official website, Facebook page or Instagram page.
