KUCHING: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will evaluate and analyse the proposal to implement the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the city.
The proposal made by Kuching Urban Transport Lab has great potential for Kuching and should be pursued vigorously if conditions for success exist, said its Assistant Minister Abdul Wahab Aziz yesterday.
He revealed that to implement the BRT system, there were several requirements such as availability of wide corridor and large buses.
“The BRT system requires wide corridors. If these corridors do not exist, BRT is either not a low cost option, or may impose unacceptable level of congestion by cars and other traffic.
“And to make efficient use of road space, BRT system must employ large buses. Many Asian cities like Kuching have extensive pra-transit services (licensed vans) but these vehicles cannot be converted to suitable BRT vehicles,” he said when closing the ‘A Focus Result Delivery (FRD) Lab for Kuching Urban Public Transport.’
Wahab said a strong political leadership is necessary for the institutional strengthening of city agencies and bus operators.
In addition, he said BRT design requires considerable traffic engineering skills and adaptation of soft management as existing operations can undermine the proposal.
As BRT operations are demanding, he said operational efficiency requires constant attention and political support.