Comments on the disruption to LRT service

More comments on the disruption to the Kelana Jaya LRT line.

LRT Woes: Lessons still not learnt By MICHAEL KETIT, Sarawak 2009/03/05

THE Kuala Lumpur Light Rail Transport (LRT) service is getting from bad to worse. During Tuesday afternoon’s service disruption, the train was packed and the queues waiting to board the train were excessive. Tempers could have easily flared.

It took more then half an hour to announce over the PA system that the trains were delayed due to technical problems. Moreover, the announcement was barely audible and made in very poor English.

During the disruption of services, why were the ticketing staff still selling train tickets? They should have stopped selling tickets and not allowed entry into the station. Letting more people into the station made the congestion worse.

There have been so many service disruptions over the years. Why are the lessons still not learnt?

Looking at the way the public transport in KL is managed, it seems we are getting further and further away from ever achieving Wawasan 2020 aspirations.

TRANSIT says:

Michael Ketit’s comments reflect specific problems with RapidKL’s management team.  Clearly the company has no strategy for managing disruptions and safety issues on the line.  The clear sign of this is the behaviour of RapidKL employees – continuing to do what they are trained to do (sell tickets, ignore customers) in the face of a serious disaster. This means that they have no plan and have not been trained for dealing with a disaster.

RapidKL at the very least needs to show the public that it has contingency plans and is training its employees to carry out these plans – and that it carried out those contingency plans on March 3.

RapidKL is the worst public transport provider in the history of the world Posted by: wrongdoings_rapidkl

Hundred meter long queues in the Kelana Jaya Line, trains and buses packed like sardines, frequent service disruptions, hour long wait for buses, escalating Monthly Travel Card prices, lack of facilities for the disabled, rude, cold, incompetent employees, tidak apa attitude, causing irreversible damage to Klang Valley’s public transportation, making all sorts of sweet promises but never fullfill any and the long list goes on.

It was no exception no the evening of 3 March 2009. Thousands of passengers were stranded for more than 2 hours when the Kelana Jaya Line suffered yet another humiliating service disruption. Trains were moving slowly and stopping much longer at stations. Trains used to arrive every few minutes, but now you can wait up to 40 minutes, stretching queues at stations up to a few hundred meters. What was originally a 50 minute ride from Terminal Putra to Kelana Jaya turned into more than 3 hours of hell!!!!

Here’s an example of a victimised passenger. A man who boarded the train from Taman Melati Station at 1805 were forced to stand in the train for close to two hours. The train stopped at Setiawangsa for 45 minutes. Passengers were left in the dark as the PA announcements at the station was not clear.

Then, passengers were told to vacate the train at Datuk Keramat Station. The following train arrived 30 minutes later. If this is not enough, the train was packed like sardines. It travelled slowly and stopped longer at many stations. Finally, the man arrived at his destination, Pasar Seni at 1950. The usual travel time is 20 minutes.

The incident above is another clear indication of RapidKL’s failure to improve Klang Valley’s public transportation. Taking a ride with RapidKL is like taking a ride to hell!! They have did a rubbish job, causing irreversible damage to Klang Valley’s public transportation. None will disagree that RapidKL should be renamed as SlowKL.

It is no surprise to see city folks aggressively cut daily spending to afford their dream car. It makes people wonder when will Klang Valley’s public transportation will rise up on par with the ranks of Hong Kong or Singapore.

TRANSIT says:

This posting at the Star.com.my blog doesn’t mince words.  TRANSIT wonders how RapidKL can get away with such poor management for 6 years of operations.

Certainly some of the blame has to go to other places – Prasarana, the Finance Ministry, the Economic Planning Unit, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Prime Minister himself.  But at the core of the problem is at RapidKL – an understaffed, poorly-managed government-linked company that so far has just not done its job according to its own promises, let alone the expectations of the public.