KUALA LUMPUR: The Bandar Tasik Selatan Integrated Transport Terminal-Southern Sector, scheduled to open in November, is expected to offer commuters better comfort than any airport in the country, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said yesterday.He said the terminal offered 30 sq ft of space per person compared with only 20 sq ft in airports.
“We have also taken into account the comfort of physically challenged people as well as looked into user-friendly facilities,” he told reporters after a visit to the project site.
Some 100 bus waiting areas, 21 departure areas and 18 arrival areas were being provided which could enable 130 bus departures and arrivals in one hour, he said.
The terminal would also have 16 inter-city bus platforms, 100 open bus parking bays, 150 taxi parking bays and 1,000 public parking bays spread out on 49 acres with a terminal area of 95,000 sq metres, he said.
Ong said the effort to step up use of public transportation in the Klang Valley was in line with the ministry’s target to raise use of public transportation from the current 16 per cent to 25 per cent in 2012.
Asked about the function of Hentian Pudu Raya after the Bandar Tasik Selatan terminal went into service, he said the project was merely to reduce traffic congestion in the city centre and that the Pudu Raya terminal would be used again as usual.
“Pudu Raya is a separate entity whereas this new terminal works as a south-bound facility for bus services.
Puduraya will carry on with its own function as per normal,” he said.
The Bandar Tasik Selatan terminal is accessible via the Sungai Besi Highway (Besraya), the southern section of the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Highway and the eastern section of the Middle Ring Road II (MRR II). — Bernama