Improving Public Transportation – Getting to the Bottomline

Improving Public Transportation – Getting to the Bottomline 

By Stephen Ng 

While writing this piece, hundreds of stage buses are left to rot in the junk yards after the consortium formed, and supposed to manage the public transportation system in the Klang Valley, failed to deliver. 

We have also seen the implementation of all three railtrack systems – the monorail, the light rail train and the KTM Commuters – and now, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, but despite huge public spending, our public transportation is nowhere as efficient as even the neighbouring country, Singapore. 

As pointed out by a friend, most of the urban transport planners in Singapore are in fact Malaysians, so why is it that these brains that we have produced over the years not been able to benefit the country where they were born?

Several years ago, I did a study on the public transportation system in the Klang Valley. Like it or not, we have one of the best network of train tracks available. 

With the existing commuter network, one can get as far as Seremban, Port Klang and Rawang. This has since been extended. 

Weaknesses

However, the greatest weakness is connectivity between the different systems. For example, Sentul has two terminal stations – KTM Komuter and the LRT, however, both stations are nowhere near to each other. Why?

The KTM Komuter trains on the Sentul-Port Klang route crisscross the other trains on the Rawang-Seremban routes at one of the stations. This causes a delay to the schedule. 

Assuming a commuter rides on the train from Kepong to Sentul. It is fine to hop off from one train and immediately step into another train en route to Sentul. However, on arrival to Sentul, how does one expect to go to the wet market from there? 

Taxis are supposed to provide the much-needed short distances, but try taking a taxi during peak hours, and see if you can find any taxi willing to pick you up without charging an exorbitant fee! 

Their reason? Because they have to pay an exorbitant fee for a taxi license, which could have been issued for just a nominal fee to encourage even single mothers or unemployed retirees to take up taxi services the way how retired Singaporeans have been recruited to be gainfully self-employed.

We can understand that taxis provide a different level of comfort for those who can afford to pay. However, for the ordinary Malaysian wage earner, other forms of public transport would have to be the shuttle buses. 

Why is it that we cannot organise our public transport system in such a way that there will only be a few depots for both long-haul buses and trains. 

One reason why buses are inefficient to cater to the needs for public transport is because they have to stop at nearly every bus stop to pick up passengers. There is also the massive traffic jams that hold the buses up that they are unable to circulate on their routes frequently enough. 

Why can’t these stage buses be used as express buses to ferry people from one town to one or two major bus stations near the city of Kuala Lumpur? From there, let the shuttle buses pick up their passengers and ferry them to their destinations based on fixed routes. 

Perhaps, the Government should consider reviving the Mini Buses which used to serve the people well, except for a few incidents caused by some bad drivers, a phenomenon that never cease to haunt us despite one consortium after another taking over the public transportation system in the Klang Valley.

As long as we have enough shuttle buses to reduce waiting time, people would not mind parking their cars at the train or bus station, hop on the train or bus to a depot in Kuala Lumpur. After all, no one wants to get caught in a traffic jam! 

Four Major Selling Points

Throughout the research I carried out, I decided that there were at least four major selling points if we want to convert daily commuters from driving their own vehicles to work, to become users of public transport. 

Firstly, it is comfort. People want to feel comfortable when they are taking public transport. This is where our public transport system has failed badly. 

Secondly, the trains or the buses must always be reliable. This means they have to follow strictly the timetable. I used to give thumbs-up to the LRT and the Monorail but not the KTM Komuter trains. There were times when I was grumbling because it was either too packed to even get in, or it was delayed due to some faulty engines.

Thirdly, and I think is the key, is the frequency of trains and buses. People dread taking public transport because they know that if they miss the bus or train, they would be delayed by at least an hour or so before the next train gets them to their destination. 

By having higher frequencies (or reduced waiting time), you automatically solve the congestion problem in a sardine-packed train and make travelling more comfortable and predictable for most passengers. 

I bet, coupled with economical bus or train fares, which I consider as the fourth selling point, we will be able to lure more people to take public transport.  

END