Lee looking at possible ways to ensure Sibu bus companies continue with their services

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Lee (left) talks to the passenger during his bus ride this morning.

SIBU: State Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin is looking at possible ways to ensure that the existing bus companies in Sibu can continue with their bus services in the municipality area.

At a press conference today, Lee said that the bus companies are suffering losses due to the dwindling number of passengers over the years.

He said this happened as more people are having their own transport and the bus companies are also facing competition from illegal van and e-hailing services.

According to him, previously, there were five companies operating about 200 buses in the municipality area.

Today, there is only three companies left with only 39 buses running.

“We have to find ways to ensure that the existing bus service can still continue. We want these bus services to retain, so we have to give immediate solution for the existing bus services before we can move on to the next phase,” he said.

He said that bus services in the town area are still relevant as there are still people prefer taking bus, especially those from the low-income group.

Lee, who took the initiative to take public bus early this morning, noticed that there were not many passengers travelling from Sibu town to Lanang.

However, there were more passengers for Lanang – Sibu Town route.

“I managed to meet some of the passengers. Some of them prefer to take bus as it is cheaper and if there was no bus service, it would be a problem to them because they do not earn a lot of money,” he said.

Lee also took the bus from Sibu town to Sibu Hospital, where he noticed that there were many passengers for that route.

He said Sibu is not the only place that is facing the dwindling number of passengers, as Kuching and Miri are experiencing the same thing.

He noted that four bus companies which are operating in Kuching have only 28 buses running around the city compared to more 200 buses previously.

As for Miri, he said that there are only about 20 buses going around the city.

“In Bintulu, there is no more bus going around the town as all bus companies stop their operation since 2018.

“So, my ministry is trying to study on how we can assist. The bus companies also experiencing shortage of bus drivers because to get the bus driver’s license is not cheap,” he said, adding it would cost about RM6,000 to get the license.

He explained that to become a bus driver, the person must obtain a Class E license and public service vehicle license.

“We will work with relevant agencies to ensure that the bus services can be retained, and we want to encourage more people to use bus services so that we can reduce the traffic on the road,” he said.