Taking Bus Ride X Like College All Over Again: Now, with an App

took a trip to Seremban last week

which was like college days

all over again

nothing seemed to change here

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well..

this is actually my very first time

booking bus ticket via an app

did it through Red Bus

it’s head-quartered in South Asia

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which offers Melaka-Seremban route

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the other alternative would be

CatchThatBus

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my telco is offering 15% promo code

so i might give it a try next time round

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the reason why

i didn’t book with them

this time round is because

they are only giving one option

for my return trip

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while Red Bus offers many trips

all day long

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ride experience wise

basically there are

two types of booking

those with m-Ticket and without

depending on the operator

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for those with m-Ticket

it doesn’t mean you can board

the bus with that e-ticket

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instead you have to

provide the proof of purchase

at the operator’s counter

and they will print out a

hard copy ticket for you

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for those without m-Ticket

is actually a better option

you can choose a seat

print it out and

that will act as your ticket

to board the bus

without going to the counter

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i tried both

the first trip is without m-Ticket

i.e. printed out the ticket at home

and proceeded rightly to the platform

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it was almost time but

i didn’t see any bus which says

it’s heading to Seremban

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thank goodness i asked the

driver who was checking tickets

for a bus heading to Teluk Intan

in fact that’s the bus to board

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i.e. they are heading to Seremban first

for drop off and pick up some

new passengers heading to Teluk Intan

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so.. it’s safer to head to the

counter for confirmation after all

although the printout acts

as a ticket itself

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for my return trip

i used another opreator

with m-Ticket

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so once i arrived at Seremban

i went to their counter

to get my ticket printed

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was told that the 5 PM trip

was being cancelled

so it’s either 4:30 or 6PM

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so i picked 4:30 PM

but due to some technical issue

they were not able to print out

the ticket for me

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so…

it was kinda scary

encountered a jam on our way

to the bus terminal

got there at 4:27 PM

without a ticket

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when i headed to the counter

there was no one there

so i ran to the platform

and got on the bus

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the ticketing guy at the counter

whom i had bumped into

was checking tickets

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oh my

the bus was already filled up

so i think it was very likely that

i would be chased down and

forced to take the 6 PM bus

since i actually didn’t

hold a ticket for 4:30 PM

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except a proof of purchase for 5 PM

which had been canceled anyway

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thank goodness

a guy was chased down

instead of me

because his ticket was for 6 PM

instead of 4:30 PM

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wow

what a close shave

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in short

it’s not completely paperless after all

and do check with the counter

because you will never know

change of schedule

change of platform

or whatsoever

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and be sure to get there

earlier even if you have

already purchase

your ticket online

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