Janne cutting the ribbon to launch the shuttle bus service.
KOTA KINABALU: Patients seeking treatment at the Penampang Polyclinic need no longer worry about parking their vehicles whenever they visit the polyclinic.
A shuttle bus service was introduced to ferry patients and those accompanying them from ITCC and Donggongon to the polyclinic and then back to the township and ITCC from yesterday (march 26).
According to Assistant Law and Natives Affairs Minister, Janne Lasimbang, the shuttle bus service would help resolve the parking problem faced by the patients whenever they need to get to the polyclinic.
“Parking is a huge problem there,” she said.
Janne, who is also Kapayan assemblywoman, said that a 10-seater van had been acquired to provide the service free of charge to the people.
The shuttle bus service is provided from Monday to Friday, between 7.30am and 5pm.
Patients can park at the ITCC or at Donggongon (near the Petronas fueling station) to ride on the bus.
She said that the bus would make 10 trips daily.
“This will help the patients save transportation cost getting to the polyclinic. The cost of hiring a private car to the polyclinic from Donggongon is RM10 per trip, while on Grab, one would have to pay RM5, depending on what time of day,” she said.
“I hope this service will be beneficial to all … the bus will stop right in front of the clinic too,” she said.
Philipa Wong, one of the patients seeking treatment at the polyclinic said that she had to come for her appointment once every three months, and that her travel expenditure to the clinic ranges from RM10 to RM1.50 per trip, depending on her mode of travel.