Bus tickets still available for first 30 days of land VTL between Singapore and Malaysia: MTI

BUS tickets for the first 30 days for the upcoming land vaccinated travel lane (VTL) between Singapore and Malaysia are still available, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said in an update on Thursday night (Nov 25).

As of 4pm on Nov 25, more than 90 per cent and 70 per cent of Transtar tickets to Singapore and Malaysia, respectively, are still available.

Transtar Travel is one of two bus operators, the other being Causeway Link or Handal Indah, appointed to ply the route between Singapore and Johor Bahru, which will reopen from Nov 29.

Ticket sales for the designated bus services began at 8am on Nov 25, and various media outlets had reported long waits and tickets being sold out. The Straits Times reported that Transtar had put up a notice on its website just 23 minutes after sales commenced, saying that all tickets for the next 30 days were sold out.

Transtar had sold about 4,400 tickets for the 30-day timeframe as of 4pm on Thursday, the ministry said in its update. About three-quarters of the tickets are for trips from Singapore to Malaysia, and the remaining for trips heading the other way.

The ministry said demand for the bus tickets and vaccinated travel passes are likely to remain high and processes will continue to be refined.

"We seek travellers' understanding and patience, if there are any delays in the systems," it said.

For a start, there will be a daily quota of 2,880 for this group of travellers making their way across the causeway.

As of 3pm on Thursday, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has received 240 applications for vaccinated travel passes for this much-anticipated land VTL. It will be launched on the same day as the quarantine-free air travel scheme between the two countries.

The land scheme will only be for citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass-holders of the country they are entering, as priority is given to them to visit their families, Singapore's Prime Minister's Office said on Wednesday.

Minister of Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong had said on Wednesday that the land VTL could be extended to trains, before rolling it out to private vehicles, as booking for train tickets would allow the authorities to control human traffic in a calibrated manner.

READ MORE:

• Singapore and Malaysia to launch VTL across Causeway from Nov 29
• Registration expected for private vehicles under VTL(land) to Malaysia when the time comes, says Gan
• 68,500 travel passes granted for travellers from 18 VTL countries as at Nov 22