Friday July 3, 2009

E-ticketing system to curb touting activities

THE illegal ticket touting activities at the Puduraya bus terminal in Kuala Lumpur will hopefully be a thing of the past, if Uda Holdings managing director Datuk Jaafar Abu Hassan manages to initiate and implement the e-ticketing system at the bus terminal.

This is in order to solve the one of the bus terminal’s perennial woes such like touts charging exorbitant rates.

“At the moment I cannot do much about this problem since it comes under the jurisdiction of the CVLB under the Prime Minister’s Department, but what I can do is push for this system to be implemented as soon as possible,’’ he said.

Jaafar said that e-ticketing is a necessary change for Puduraya to succeed as a proper bus terminal.

“This is something that must be done if we want to move forward,’’ he added.

Under the proposal, according to Jaafar, the e-ticketing system works on a two tier basis.

“The first would be interaction between the e-ticketing system and the bus operators,’’ he said, adding that some major bus companies like Transnasional and Mara Liner already have its own e-ticketing system.

“Our system will be linked to the system used by Transnasional or Mara so the public will have direct access to these bus companies,’’ he said.

The second system is where passengers could directly purchase tickets via the internet and even SMS.

“If its computerised than you won’t have third parties like touts coming into the picture,’’ he said.

Jaafar also added that the system would also limit the number of tickets that a person could purchase.

Meanwhile, to tackle the issue of congestion outside the terminal, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall had stationed eight officers outside the premises from 9am to 12am to prevent buses from double parking.

Physical barricades had been put in place to ensure that buses don’t park and wait.

Currently 1,000 buses use the terminal on a daily basis with the number hitting 1,400 during weekends.

Almost 100, 000 people utilise the bus terminal during the weekends.