M’sians Spend Up to 28 Hours in Heavy Traffic While Travelling to Kelantan During the Holiday Season

With four days off work thanks to the special holiday on September 15 followed by Malaysia Day on September 16 (Monday and Tuesday), many Malaysians seized the golden opportunity to go on vacation or return to their hometowns.

As expected, traffic was heavy, but the duration of the congestion was unexpectedly long.

Road congestion on the route to Kelantan, which began on Friday (September 12), peaked on Saturday (September 13), with some road users spending over a day to reach the state due to the school holidays.

While major traffic congestion is common during holiday and festive seasons, this time it was notably different. A viral TikTok video, as reported by Sinar Harian, showed a road user who departed from Sungai Buloh and arrived in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, after a grueling 28-hour drive in his manual Hilux.

The major congestion began at the Gombak toll, a key entry point for those traveling to other states. Prior to that, traffic on Friday (12 September) was already congested but still manageable, with travel times around 12 hours—much shorter than Saturday’s drastic increase.

A retired civil servant shared that it took him more than 12 hours to return to his village in Machang, Kelantan, from Kelana Jaya, Selangor, on Friday. He left around 7 AM and arrived at 7 PM.

“We were stuck in Karak for three hours before entering Kelantan, and then again for another three hours in Gua Musang,” he said.

He added that he chose to drive during the day to avoid falling asleep, even though he knew the roads would be congested.

Meanwhile, a student travelling from Malacca to Kota Bharu via express bus spent 14 hours on the road.

“The bus left at 8 PM on Friday from Melaka Sentral and was supposed to arrive at 7 AM on Saturday, but I only arrived at 11 AM.”

“The long journey, especially the congestion in Karak, caused dizziness and nausea from being on the bus for too long,” he said.

To those who were on the road during the holiday season how long did it take you to reach your destination?

Also read: M’sians Vote Federal Highway as the Place with Worst Traffic, Say it’s “built for its traffic”