I wish to respond to a letter from Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) published in the Letters section of the newsportal.
Allow me to say first that, there are two issues with the refund:
1) I cancelled the ticket on May 20 2026 after I decided to take Aeroline to Penang instead, but till now, the refund has not been processed. While I can understand that maybe KTMB has a policy that the money will only be refunded after two weeks, or one month, whatever, as dictated by themselves. Previously, I had another issue but the refund into the e-wallet came in within a day or two, which helped me with the re-purchase of the tickets. Why the delay now is something I would not like to see happening, especially when...
2) I requested that the refund be made into the bank account from where the money came from. The refund would be meaningless to me, if it is paid into the KTMB e-wallet, as I will no longer be using KTMB services unless there are really no other options available, especially after this bad experience with KTMB's customer service which lasted for 40 minutes as I tried to explain to the customer care service personnel.
For the enlightenment of the minister and members of the public, these are the reasons why I blew my top on the two customer service personnel:
The numerous attempts and efforts to call KTMB (most of the calls got disconnected) before a customer careline person answered the phone was most frustrating.
What made it worse was when the customer care personnel told me that I was the only one so far who has an issue with this senior citizen discount; it is like telling me that as a customer, I was only a troublemaker.
The reason I called is to rationalise with her and solve the problem. Instead, what I see in KTMB's official response, which adds further insults, is its official correspondece published by Malaysiakini which states that, I had in the past made "at least eight online ticket purchases" (probably for only four trips at the most); I do not see what this has anything to do with the problem I am bringing to their attention now.
Although some may hesitate for privacy sake to click on the statement, "I am travelling myself", in the past, whenever I saw it, I would still click the box, because I did not see how it could be harmful to tell anyone that I would be travelling on the days stated in the tickets.
In the past, the discounts were automatically deducted from the original ticket price which made it easy for me to just make the payment and settle with the ticket reservation. It is for this reason that I have encouraged many senior citizens to travel on ETS, but I cannot bear now to see them going through the roof if they had to experience this kind of treatment from KTMB.
In the first place, there wasn't even a word of apology for the miscommunication caused by its e-ticketing portal.
There are two major flaws and a solution which I tried to provide to KTMB, which till now, their response clearly shows they are unwilling to listen to customers' feedback and improve but for the sake of others, I hope the minister will at least step in to intervene:
1. Change the ambiguous statement used on KTMB e-ticketing portal.
To say the least, the statement, "I am travelling myself" is ambiguous. By stating, "I am travelling myself," no one would understand that not clicking on the box would mean the ticket purchased is for an adult, not a senior citizen.
My question to KTMB has not been answered:
What if a father asked his son to book the ticket on his behalf? Would the son understand the significance of clicking on the box if he wants to get the senior citizen's discounts?
I think most people would not click on the box, unless it clearly states that, failure to do soon, would mean your senior citizen's discounts are forfeited.
Therefore, what is so difficult to admit that there was a flaw in the system, and make the efforts to rectify it? The statement as I proposed to the Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke was: “This ticket is bought for a senior citizen (IC: xxxxxx-xx-xxxx). You have to click this box to obtain your discounts of 50%. This ticket is only applicable for Senior Citizens.” If there is a statement like this, anyone will be able to understand that if they fail to click the box, their discounts can be forfeited.
In the first place, if the registered KTMB customer account is already a fully-verified, age-validated account, any ticket purchased under the same IC number, it should automatically apply the discount to a senior citizen. If the ticket is bought using a senior citizen's account, the accompanying passenger would need either a MyKid or MyKad number anyway.
Even the above is suggested as a deterrence so that the ticket purchasers know that a senior citizen's ticket cannot be used by anyone not entitled to it.
If your son had purchased the ticket on your behalf, I believe he would not click on a statement like, "I am travelling myself"; after all, he is only purchasing it on your behalf and he will not be the one using the ticket himself. KTMB will automatically treat this ticket as an adults price with zero dicounts despite the son filling the IC number of the father.
KTMB may not encounter such customers who, like me, will fight on for the sake of others who may encounter the same bad experience in the future.
Unless KTMB is willing to change its mindset in the way it conducts its business. KTMB can only thrive if it is willing to listen and solve problems instead of insisting on its own rigid policies, which its staff said, are "termaktub" -- as if written on stones.
2. KTMB’s use of the term “Dewasa” as an age-defined category—without clearly stating its age limits—can lead to unnecessary confusion. Passengers may reasonably interpret “Dewasa” in its ordinary sense, not realising it excludes eligibility for senior citizen discounts. Clarifying the age range alongside the term would greatly improve transparency and help prevent misunderstandings. The customer care representative’s rigid insistence that the portal was correct was what sent me through the roof.
Solution
While I expected a major organisation like KTMB—much like other customer‑centric corporations—to first acknowledge and apologise for the miscommunication, it failed to do so. Instead, it did not even attempt a verification process or undertake the necessary administrative steps to rectify the ticket billing, solely because I had not selected the box stating, “I am travelling myself.” If I saw it, I would have ticked it. Period.
I would have carried on with my life as usual, but now, it is involving even the Minister of Transport, who despite all the whispers, did not do anything to resolve the matter amicably and fix the system to avoid a similar incident from happening again. Now that the feedback to him has become an issue, it is unlikely that I will use KTMB services, so why insisting on paying into the KTMB e-wallet in the first place?
When Anthony Loke called for reforms to be delivered by the Prime Minister within six months, has he himself advanced the transport sector to a level worthy of the kind of praise I accorded to the immigration checkpoints at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for their sterling performance? This is not a matter of politics, but of improving a system that can place undue stress on customers. That is why I am compelled to raise this issue, even though I have no personal stake in doing so, as I no longer intend to use KTMB’s services. My concern is simply to ensure that others do not have to endure the same experience I faced. For this same reason, I have unpublish my blog https://come-to-senses.blogspot.com/2026/05/ets-yourself-to-segamat.html about promoting ETS services to Segamat previously.
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