Bus station abuzz with life as Raya holidays wind down

Alor Setar – The main express bus bus station in Alor Setar, Shahab Perdana, looked like a carnival place as the crowds flocked the bus stations to get back to the city last weekend.

Finding a parking lot was near impossible.  The security guards kept on blowing whistles to hurry people along and people were not allowed to wait longer than a few seconds in order to  drop off passengers.

“It has been massively crowded since 9pm on Saturday night” said one of the magazine stall operators who was so busy attending to customers that he had no time to ‘chit-chat’.

The busy bus station left people resorting to sitting on the steps, along the drains, on their bags, even on each others lap.  While most were standing at the platforms, corridors, basically all over the place.

“I managed to get ticket at the last moment and did not think I would be able to” said Sherril Netto, who was heading back to KL after spending the raya holidays with family here in Alor Setar.

Bus companies hired extra buses to shuttle the passengers back to Kuala Lumpur, mostly tour busses to meet the demands of the travellers.

This is a common sight every festive season as outstation folks make their way back to their ‘kampung’.