Ferry, boat services to Temburong during Raya holidays

Travellers assured smooth journey

HOLIDAY makers wishing to travel to Temburong or neighbouring Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia, for the long Hari Raya Aidil Fitri holidays were assured that their journey would be as smooth as possible.

This assurance came from the chairman of Koperasi Pengangkutan Bersatu Temburong DTB (KPBT) yesterday.

The cooperative operates a ferry and boat services in the district.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, Hj Emran Hj Sabtu said the cooperative were fully prepared for the influx of travellers crossing the borders via their ferry and boat services.

The long public holidays meant that many, mostly Temburong residents working in the other districts as well as foreign travellers, will be using the ferry to cross the 20 metre wide Pandaruan River from Limbang, Malaysia to the Temburong District and vice versa.

Hj Emran said queuing to board the ferry could be expected during such festivities and public holidays. The number of vehicles boarding the ferry doubled compared to normal days.

'We have seen an increase in the number of vehicles (queuing up) in the last four days. We expect that this will continue up to the first few days of Hari Raya Aidil Fitri," he added.

However, yesterday the ferry and boat jetty in Bangar Town was quite as many had made the trip back home on Saturday.

Hj Emran said the increase in number of vehicles racked in good profits for the co-op.

"In one day, we managed to earn $10,000 from the ferry ticket sales. On normal days, we earn around $5,000 to $6,000," he said.

He said that the increase in profit was significant considering that their ferry operate on alternate days with another ferry company- Syarikat Feri Usahasama Sdn Bhd.

The chairman said the increase caused the cooperative to extend their operating hours, with permission from the relevant authorities, from 6am to 10pm to 11pm.

"Depending on the number of vehicles in the queue, we do go beyond 11pm. We will operate until all the vehicles made it across to either Temburong or Limbang," he added.

Hj Emran said the same goes with their boat operations. The travel from Temburong boat terminal to the Bandar Seri Begawan jetty in Kg Kianggeh and vice versa takes 30 to 45 minutes.

Tickets are priced at $6 for adult; $5 for senior citizen and children below 12 years old travels for free. "Our boats operating hours start at 6am to 4.30pm, but during time of festivities, as what we experienced so far, we would have to extend the time until 5.30pm or 6pm. We will cater to our customers as best as we can," he said.

For this year Hari Raya, 13 boats will be in operation.

He said that the cooperative have the safety of their passengers in mind hence they would not operate at night.

"Our passengers understand the reason why we do not want to operate at night. It is dangerous for our passengers as well as our drivers," he said.



Hj Emran, who is also one of the board members for one of the districts filling station, 'Koperasi Menjual Minyak Bersama Temburong', assured that the petrol supply will be sufficient for the districts residents as well as travellers passing through the district. The districts two filling stations will be closed today (the first day of Hari Raya), but will resume tomorrow. .

The Brunei Times