bus services

I had a little "hiccup" last weekend when traveling back from KL by bus. I think for the first time, I missed a purchased bus ride due to an unforseen traffic jam caused by a road accident. I reached Shah Alam bus station at 10:25am though for the 10:30am bus. Apparently, the bus has departed a little bit earlier when I reached, which is unusual and very rare.

Although me and my friend protested, we were brushed aside by the agent with excuses like announcement of the departure has been made over the loudspeaker etc. They couldn't even help by trying to call the bus or give us the bus driver's h/p number so that we could catch up with the bus. The only offer they are selling me is the 12noon bus ride.

Call me/I am racist, I personally think majority of "pure local" only looks at short term profit and never thought of the service that they are offering for the long term gain. Undeniebly, non "pure local" are sometimes like that too, but these "pure local" are abundant. I will NEVER buy bus ticket from that company ANYMORE and will tell the tale as long as I live, something about "sutera", so that it is known by other, a pledge that I had made on that day =)

I am not really in a rush, but my friend already late for work by half a day. So, I asked him to send me to the nearest Kelana Jaya LRT station, took LRT to Masjid Jamek, changed to STAR line to Plaza Rakyat, bought a on-the-spot bus ticket and departed from Pudu at 12noon. I would glad to go through the fuss than taking the bus at Shah Alam station.

Story end? Not actually :)

When I bought the on-the-spot bus ticket, I confirmed twice with the ticketing agent whether is it a DIRECT bus. Both times they replied is a DIRECT bus, and STRESSED that NOT GOING through Butterworth. Turns out at the end, it still went to Butterworth.

Not really a big deal actually, because it just took a little bit more time before I reached Penang Island at 5pm. I have seen worser case where it took me almost 7hrs from KL to Penang by stopping at Tanjung Malim, Ipoh, Taiping, Nibong Tebal etc. I want to mention it here as a reminder to NOT trust the word of bus ticketing agent about the "service" they promised, and always add buffer to your arrival time to soften your "rage" due to "different expectation". To be clear, I wasnt on rage that day, just an experience sharing =)

Story end? Not actually again =)

The essense of the post starts here actually, and is about the bus driver. It starts like this. I boarded the bus with ticket with no seating number. So, I politely asked the driver "free seating?"

What I had from him is a really really "disgruntled" look and with a fierce reply of "I DONT KNOW LAR! ASK THE OTHER LAR!"

So, what is my reaction? Many of you who knew me well sure guessed that I confronted him, right? Actually I ignored him and went on finding my feng shui seat.

Yes, you hear me right, I ignored him =)

I am not really sure what went wrong with me, is like I have the most "patient" feeling on that day. But of course, I will still remember to blog about the encounter here.

Still about the particular bus driver, at the one and only stop that he made at the gas station for toilet break, the "something wrong" bus driver NOT ONLY SMOKE at the gas station twice, but also USED his HANDPHONE while smoking. I took out my camera wanting to took a picture of the act, but couldnt find an angle with the gas station signboard in it. So, no picture here. Pathetically, is a proof that how ignorant many people are.

The post getting lengthy, right? Anyway, this should be the last point and highlight about the driver, try stay with me a little bit longer, k?

After the gas station, changed driver and the "something wrong" bus driver went on to rest at the rear. Prior to that, he turn on the DVD player and screened a movie called "shot 'em up". Anyone watched this movie before? Well, is an "abnormal" action movie with lots of both "guns & shootings". I can say that the movie is razor thin towards the level of x-rated movie with nudity etc. Freakingly OMG, there are childrens on the bus too. I immediately confirmed that the driver has mental problem. I mean, I have heard of stories saying that x-rated movies were screened on bus express in the past, but this is the closest encounter that I really had on the topic, what an "eye opening".

So, there you have it. What an "extroardinary" trip back to Penang.

On the bright side, at least I was able to keep my composure and arrived safely to Penang. I should be grateful about this, I think.