Fares during Chinese New Year nearly triple for Singapore-Malaysia route

SINGAPORE (Commonwealth Union)_ Travellers making plans to make a trip to Malaysia during the Chinese New Year period in 2024 can expect to fork out up to three times more for airfare and bus tickets. 

More than three months before the festive occasion on 10^th and 11^th February, many from Singapore who plan to celebrate in Malaysia have already snapped up tickets to avoid paying inflated prices owing to the expected spike in demand. 

One of them Ms Cheyenne Lim, bought return flight tickets for her 10^th to 18^th February trip in March 2023,to her parents’ home town of Penang for three people on AirAsia for $273 each almost immediately after they were made available on the airline’s website.  As at Wednesday, the same route costs $526. 

A one-way economy class airfare to Kuala Lumpur is between $81 and $552 for travel from 4^th to 10^th February, an increase from $70 to $214 the week before.

A trip on Scoot from Singapore to Ipoh would cost between $183 and $513 in the week leading up to Chinese New Year, compared with a fare of between $89 and $214 from 28^th January to 3^rd February.

Bus companies have also raised prices of tickets, citing reasons such as a shortage of bus drivers and the expected traffic jams at the Causeway. 

Checks showed that bus tickets cost between $33 and $188 for a one-way ride to Kuala Lumpur from 4^th to 10^th February, an increase from the $30 to $138 the week before.

Commuters can expect to pay up to $190 for a one-way trip, when compared with the usual non-peak prices of $40 to $55.

Although the bus company plans to increase its number of trips, it will have to take into account a lack of bus drivers.

Malaysian bus operator Causeway Link expects a 70% increase in commuters during the Chinese New Year period.  The price increase is to account for longer travel durations owing to traffic jams at the Causeway as well as higher payments to its bus drivers.

Both Sri Maju and Causeway Link will be increasing the number of trips made during the festive period to cope with the foreseeable increase in demand.

The price of chartering private vehicles has also gone up.