Damansara Damai to get new bus terminal

TRANSIT takes note of a proposal from a developer to build an “intercity” bus terminal in Damansara Damai, Petaling Jaya (near Sg. Buloh & Bandar Sri Damansara)

Damansara Damai to get new intercity bus terminal soon (The Star)
Friday September 11, 2009
By FAZLEENA AZIZ

A NEW intercity bus terminal called Wan’s Terminal will be built by the end of the year in Jalan PJU 10/4 in Damansara Damai (map) Petaling Jaya.

The RM1.9mil project also includes 32 shops, which will be built to control the number of road side hawkers in the area.

The project will be carried out by Medan Prestasi Sdn Bhd, a company under MK Land Holdings Bhd for the convenience of the local communities.

The terminal will play host to Metro, RapidKL, Selangor Omnibus and SJ buses from Damansara Damai to Kuala Lumpur.

It is situated near several schools, housing, commercial and industrial areas and caters to about 90,000 people in Damansara Damai.

The Damansara Damai area consist[s] of a mixed-development project of homes, condominiums and commercial lots, all developed by Medan Prestasi.

So far about 14,000 units of property have been sold.

MK Land executive chairman Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal said it would be a vital transportation hub for the locals.

“The area has growth potential to become fully developed and today it is a complementary development.

“Nobody asked us to build the terminal but we wanted to create a win-win situation for everybody,” he said. [TRANSIT: That is the problem. The Local Majlis Perbandaran should have a plan for a public transport hub in the centre of a community! A corporate-driven initative, while welcomed, may not be the best planned solution.]

….

Medan Prestasi is also planning to launch a few development projects in the Damansara Damai area consisting of condominiums and mixed development.

TRANSIT Says:

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We are always happy to see improvements to local public transportation and at first look, the intercity bus terminal sounds like a very useful & beneficial project for the community.

However, we wonder about the long term value of a terminal in Damansara Damai which is close to Bandar Sri Damansara and Sg. Buloh.

This is because the government has plans for a massive Integrated Transport Terminal at Sg. Buloh KTM station – which will have intercity & express buses, taxies, hired cars, KTM Komuter service, potential future Komuter Laju service [ok, that’s just TRANSIT’s idea] and finally, the Sg. Buloh – Cheras MRT line.

In the meantime, we are happy to see that the developer is taking the initative and we hope that the developer will consult public transport users, bus & taxi operators and planners and engineers on the best possible design for this new terminal.

2 guidelines on suburban public transit designs can be found here.

• Calgary Transit Public Transport-friendly suburban design guide
• TCRP Suburban Transit Design Guide