KUALA LUMPUR: The public transportation system, especially bus services in Malaysia, has long suffered the negative perception of being dubbed the ‘poor man’s’ mode of travel.
It has also been made worse by the inefficient services rendered by the operators.
However, this image is set for an overhaul, following the government’s plan to transform the system in the Klang Valley, for a start.
In an interview, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat told Bernama that congestion of city roads was identified as one of the main reasons of the poor services.
“To overcome this, the government has come out with three key services to be launched across 12 major city corridors heading into the central business area (CBD), namely Bus Expressway Transit (BET) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and extending existing dedicated bus lanes system in the Klang Valley,” he said.
The BET service will be launched in the first quarter of this year on four under-utilised highways or four corridors in the Klang Valley with commuters enjoying a 55 per cent reduction in travelling time.
The bus service under the BRT will use priority toll booths to ensure smooth travelling and limited stop stations.
For a start, BET will swing into action tomorrow, on two routes — from Kota Damansara to KL Sentral and Pasar Seni via the Penchala Link, and from Bandar Sungai Long to Pasar Seni, via the Grand Saga Highway.
The journey from Kota Damansara to Pasar Seni is expected to be reduced from the current two hours to just 50 minutes, while travelling time from Bandar Sungai Long and Pasar Seni, currently taking less than one-and-a-half hours, to 50 minutes.
The buses under the BET system would run at 15 to minute intervals during the morning and evening peak hours.
The other two routes which have been identified and would be implemented later with BET, are from Subang Mewah to Pasar Seni via New Pantai Expressway and from Sri Muda to Pasar Seni, via Kesas.
The transport minister said the BRT, on the other hand, would be similar to the city public transportation system implemented successfully in Curitiba, Brazil and Bogota, Colombia and these two systems (BET and BRT) would be able to carry two million passengers daily.
The BRT is famous for providing faster services than the ordinary city bus in other cities in North America, Europe and Australia.
“For Klang Valley, the BRT system will be launched across three major corridors heading into the city centre with a total route length of 49km. These corridors will be physically separated from exisiting lanes with concrete barriers and have dedicated stations for loading and unloading of passengers,” he said. — Bernama
For the five remaining corridors, a dedicated bus lane system would be implemented without the actual physical segregation of lanes, but with lanes marked for flexible traffic management.
“For example, the bus lanes will only be used during the morning rush hour or in the evening peak hour with total proposed route length of 21km,” noted Ong.
The implementation of the BRT and the dedicated bus lane system will provide an increase of 35,000 to 55,000 passengers during the peak hour because of the expected reduction of travelling time.
There are currently 13 bus operators within the Klang Valley, with RapidKL holding a lion’s share of the market of 50 per cent, with about 710 buses in operation daily, while an additional 400 new buses are expected to enter service in the next two years.
“In order to achieve bus share ridership of 100,000 passengers during peak hour (including BET, BRT and the dedicated bus lanes), we need a better service on existing routes, and there is also a need for an additional 850 new buses, of which 400 buses have already been purchased by Rapid KL,” he said.
The government has also planned to upgrade 4,000 bus stops in the Klang Valley as at present, 40 per cent are unsheltered and have no clear signage.
The authorities also plan to “take out” some 700 express buses out of the city centre when the Bandar Tasik Selatan Integrated Transport Terminal (ITT) hub is completed in November this year, allowing for less congested traffic environment in the city.
With the completion of Gombak ITT, also at the end of the year, and at a later stage, the Sungai Buloh ITT, over 2,000 express buses currently choking the city would be removed to the fringes of Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama