Qistna Express.....Coach from Hell
The coach departed from Genting highlands for Singapore at approx 10:55am when all the passengers were onboard (there were 11 pax onboard, 4 pax group, 5 pax group and 2 singles, myself included). My seat was a single seat.
The coach went into the small streets in KL, somewhere near SMK La Salle Sentul where it waited fro 5 minutes before making a weird U-turn and headed back to some roads it passed. Then deeper into the jam packed roads of KL where it stopped in front of Berjaya Times Square. The coach reached Berjaya Times Square at 1:30pm and waited for almost 25 minutes. The driver then mumbled in Tamil that there were supposed to be 10 more passengers that did not turned up (There were 4 Indian passengers who assisted us with the translation as the coach driver did not speak English).
The coach then headed into North-south Highway "E2". He stopped at a small rest stop (approx 315KM mark) around 2:10pm and declared "lunch" and stepped out of the coach. I noticed another Qistna Express coach entered the rest stop and parked beside our coach for a while then left. The rest stop only had one stall selling rice, another stall selling some fried noodles and a few drinks stalls, not a decent place for most people unless you want to have the risk of having a bad case of diahorrea.
When I boarded the coach at 2:20pm, I thought I entered the wrong coach as it was half filled with strangers. Someone was in my seat and my backpack which was left on the seat was now on the floor. A foreigner couple had couple seats but decided to use one of the seats for their bags and took my seat. They apologised and put their bags into the over head compartment. I checked my backpack and all my stuff was there (including some 2,200 Malaysian Ringgit in a clear plastic ziplock bag).
There was a huge commotion when the rest of the passengers and coach driver returned. Some of the new passengers were in the seats of the original occupants. So there was some shuffling around....worse of all, the coach was now overbooked.....one passenger (originated from Genting) did not have a seat. After some shouting over the phone and at the coach driver, the passenger ended up seating on the stairs of the coach. Now the coach had a mix of Indian passengers, Chinese passengers and 3 foriengers (they sounded like french tourists).
The coach travelled very slowly....I could have sworn that a few cyclists over took the coach at one part of the highway.
At apporxmately 5:15pm, the coach exited the highway at the Pagoh toll and the driver stopped at the road side beside a small carpark claimed "toilet break". We got off the coach and headed for the toilets. When I came out of the toilet another Qistna Express coach had parked behind ours and its passengers were getting off that coach and boarding ours !!!
We then demanded to know what was going on as our coach was already overbooked and there was no way to take in 20 more passengers. The 2 coach drivers told us to switch coaches. I had a hard time getting my stuff of the coach as a stranger was already in my seat and my backpack was on the floor again....I had to unplug my phone charger from the floor a pack some of my other stuff like drinks while passengers were either doing the same packing or either getting off and on the same coach at the same time.
We managed to settle into the other coach at 5:30pm and the coach made another weird U-turn to return to the North-South Highway.
The coach did not stop at the usual "Yong Peng rest stop" but to our horror, the driver drove past legoland and made a stop at Tampoi to drop off a passenger and another at Larkin to drop off 3 passengers before heading back to Tuas checkpoint. Along the way at 6:55pm, he made an unschuduled sudden stop along lebuhraya sultan iskandar near Jalan Rawa to pack dinner for himself.
We managed to clear Malaysia customs but was stuck in the 2nd link bridge from 7:35pm to approx 8:30pm. Most of us cleared the Singapore customs and waited for the coach which arrived at approx 8:45pm. On board the coach, while waiting for others to clear customs, some of us began to repack our stuff and power up our mobile phones (or change to Singapore Telco). One of the ladies who left her mobile in her backpack could not find her mobile. I then looked into my backpack and also discovered that my ziplock bag containing Myr 2,200 only had Myr 600). These were likely stolen by the passengers at Pagoh when the other passengers boarded our coach. We discussed about reporting to the polce but what good would it do ?
At 9:10pm, 2 more strangers boarded our coach. The young couple sat beside me and told me they were from TBS (130pm coach) stranded there by another Qistna Express coach and was heading to Jurong Point. The coach suddenly took off amidst to our protest that the 3 foreign tourist were not onboard the coach. The driver replied that he waited for over 1 hour and he was not waiting any longer (he only waited for 30 minutes where he took the time to have his dinner).....Do note that most of the passengers did not have anything to eat since 10am other than breakfast served in Starbucks at First World Hotel.
Then at 9:15pm, some of the passengers noticed that the route the driver took was wrong as he past the turn to Jurong Point. The driver just stopped the coach at the Bus stop 21019 (Aft Yuan Ching Road) and said next stop is Serangoon Road. Most of us got off the coach and headed for the food court and Macdonalds at Yuan Cing Road while some others took a cab to Jurong Point.
I had a quick bite at Macdonalds before I got a GRAB at 21:55pm to AMK for $19. If I took the coach to the Little India drop off point, the whole journet from Genting to SG would have taken 12 hours !!!
The coach departed from Genting highlands for Singapore at approx 10:55am when all the passengers were onboard (there were 11 pax onboard, 4 pax group, 5 pax group and 2 singles, myself included). My seat was a single seat.
The coach went into the small streets in KL, somewhere near SMK La Salle Sentul where it waited fro 5 minutes before making a weird U-turn and headed back to some roads it passed. Then deeper into the jam packed roads of KL where it stopped in front of Berjaya Times Square. The coach reached Berjaya Times Square at 1:30pm and waited for almost 25 minutes. The driver then mumbled in Tamil that there were supposed to be 10 more passengers that did not turned up (There were 4 Indian passengers who assisted us with the translation as the coach driver did not speak English).
The coach then headed into North-south Highway "E2". He stopped at a small rest stop (approx 315KM mark) around 2:10pm and declared "lunch" and stepped out of the coach. I noticed another Qistna Express coach entered the rest stop and parked beside our coach for a while then left. The rest stop only had one stall selling rice, another stall selling some fried noodles and a few drinks stalls, not a decent place for most people unless you want to have the risk of having a bad case of diahorrea.
When I boarded the coach at 2:20pm, I thought I entered the wrong coach as it was half filled with strangers. Someone was in my seat and my backpack which was left on the seat was now on the floor. A foreigner couple had couple seats but decided to use one of the seats for their bags and took my seat. They apologised and put their bags into the over head compartment. I checked my backpack and all my stuff was there (including some 2,200 Malaysian Ringgit in a clear plastic ziplock bag).
There was a huge commotion when the rest of the passengers and coach driver returned. Some of the new passengers were in the seats of the original occupants. So there was some shuffling around....worse of all, the coach was now overbooked.....one passenger (originated from Genting) did not have a seat. After some shouting over the phone and at the coach driver, the passenger ended up seating on the stairs of the coach. Now the coach had a mix of Indian passengers, Chinese passengers and 3 foriengers (they sounded like french tourists).
The coach travelled very slowly....I could have sworn that a few cyclists over took the coach at one part of the highway.
At apporxmately 5:15pm, the coach exited the highway at the Pagoh toll and the driver stopped at the road side beside a small carpark claimed "toilet break". We got off the coach and headed for the toilets. When I came out of the toilet another Qistna Express coach had parked behind ours and its passengers were getting off that coach and boarding ours !!!
We then demanded to know what was going on as our coach was already overbooked and there was no way to take in 20 more passengers. The 2 coach drivers told us to switch coaches. I had a hard time getting my stuff of the coach as a stranger was already in my seat and my backpack was on the floor again....I had to unplug my phone charger from the floor a pack some of my other stuff like drinks while passengers were either doing the same packing or either getting off and on the same coach at the same time.
We managed to settle into the other coach at 5:30pm and the coach made another weird U-turn to return to the North-South Highway.
The coach did not stop at the usual "Yong Peng rest stop" but to our horror, the driver drove past legoland and made a stop at Tampoi to drop off a passenger and another at Larkin to drop off 3 passengers before heading back to Tuas checkpoint. Along the way at 6:55pm, he made an unschuduled sudden stop along lebuhraya sultan iskandar near Jalan Rawa to pack dinner for himself.
We managed to clear Malaysia customs but was stuck in the 2nd link bridge from 7:35pm to approx 8:30pm. Most of us cleared the Singapore customs and waited for the coach which arrived at approx 8:45pm. On board the coach, while waiting for others to clear customs, some of us began to repack our stuff and power up our mobile phones (or change to Singapore Telco). One of the ladies who left her mobile in her backpack could not find her mobile. I then looked into my backpack and also discovered that my ziplock bag containing Myr 2,200 only had Myr 600). These were likely stolen by the passengers at Pagoh when the other passengers boarded our coach. We discussed about reporting to the polce but what good would it do ?
At 9:10pm, 2 more strangers boarded our coach. The young couple sat beside me and told me they were from TBS (130pm coach) stranded there by another Qistna Express coach and was heading to Jurong Point. The coach suddenly took off amidst to our protest that the 3 foreign tourist were not onboard the coach. The driver replied that he waited for over 1 hour and he was not waiting any longer (he only waited for 30 minutes where he took the time to have his dinner).....Do note that most of the passengers did not have anything to eat since 10am other than breakfast served in Starbucks at First World Hotel.
Then at 9:15pm, some of the passengers noticed that the route the driver took was wrong as he past the turn to Jurong Point. The driver just stopped the coach at the Bus stop 21019 (Aft Yuan Ching Road) and said next stop is Serangoon Road. Most of us got off the coach and headed for the food court and Macdonalds at Yuan Cing Road while some others took a cab to Jurong Point.
I had a quick bite at Macdonalds before I got a GRAB at 21:55pm to AMK for $19. If I took the coach to the Little India drop off point, the whole journet from Genting to SG would have taken 12 hours !!!
