Singapore — Operators of Singapore-Malaysia bus services are cautioning travellers not to buy tickets for vaccinated travel lane (VTL) services from or through third parties, usually also at grossly inflated prices.
Some of the VTL tickets are being hawked on online platforms such as Carousell for as much as eight times the actual ticket price to desperate travellers.
Travellers have been willing to pay these prices because they were not able to get the tickets when they went on sale or had difficulties during the process.
On the e-commerce platform Carousell, would-be travellers are required to submit personal details such as passport numbers and birthdates, and make payments to secure a ticket.
It is not safe to reveal such personal details to third parties, said Transtar Travel’s managing director Elson Yap in a Straits Times report.
Moreover, tickets purchased from Transtar Travel and another operator, Causeway Link, are non-transferable to prevent scalpers from buying tickets in bulk and selling them at inflated prices.
Transtar Travel advises travellers to buy tickets only through its official website and account in Shopee.
Earlier in December, Causeway Link had posted an advisory on Facebook saying it was aware that its VTL bus tickets were being sold outside the official online platform.
“Please be advised that Causeway Link Management has the right to invalidate any unauthorized sold tickets outside our official service provider,” the post noted.
Causeway Link advised passengers who bought from outside agents not to be fooled by offers made to them.
Such third-party ticket-buying services emerged because of the overwhelming traffic at the operators’ websites when VTL bus tickets first went on sale. So the situation provided an opportunity for others to exploit for a profit.
A quick look at Carousell shows, tickets are still being sold, some reaching S$150.
Causeway Link tickets for January are currently unavailable.
Transtar Travel is still selling tickets for a particular day of travel. For example, tickets for Jan 27 go on sale on Wednesday (Dec 29).
On Dec 22, authorities suspended the sale of new VTL tickets to and from Malaysia until Jan 20, 2022, amid the scare caused by the emergence of the Covid-19 Omicron variant. /TISG
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MOM: Non-Malaysian work permit or S pass holders in CMP sectors can no longer enter S’pore via VTL