Malaysia…Transform and Roll Out!

Updated with additional articles!
Updated with links to video of launching!
Updated with additional comments!

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak launched the Government Transformation Programme Roadmap in a ceremony at the KL Convention Centre on 28 January 2010.

• Blueprint to transform govt delivery system (NST);
• Single cashless travel on trains and buses by end of the year (The Star);
• Stimulating demand to boost public transport (The Star);
• Zooming in on better transport services (The Star);
• Number of buses to be doubled by 2012 (Malay Mail);
• One-ticket system for public transport in Klang Valley (Malay Mail).

The launching was streamed live on the GTP website and various videos have been posted at the 1Malaysia youtube site.

The key details of the National Key Result Area (NKRA) on Urban Public Transport can be found in the image below, which describes improvements to the rail system and the report itself, which is just below:

And from the Report itself:

Improving urban public transport

Public transport is one of the perennial irritants for urban Malaysians. For example, in Klang Valley today, there is high congestion during peak periods (e.g., commuters in KTM Komuter trains suffer from more than 40% over-capacity), often unreliable service with frequent delays and cancellations, poor connectivity between modes in certain areas (e.g., between monorail and LRT stations at KL Sentral) and poor access to public transport services (e.g., only about 61% of Klang Valley’s population lives within 400 metres of a bus route). This, in combination with continued growth in the number of private vehicles, has contributed to public transport modal share in Klang Valley falling steadily from 34% in 1985, to 20% in 1997; today it is closer to 10–12%.

We aim to:

• Raise the modal share to 13% by 2010 and to 25% by 2012 during the morning peak period of 7 AM to 9 AM in Klang Valley. We will subsequently adapt and apply successful initiatives to Penang and Johor Bahru
• Improve reliability and journey times
• Enhance comfort and convenience
• Improve accessibility and connectivity such that the percentage of the population living within 400 metres of a public transport route increases from 63% to 75% in 2010.

Early progress on urban public transport achieved

To date, there has been encouraging early impact. For example, transfer times on RapidKL’s bus routes have been minimised through route realignment, waiting times have been reduced from 20 minutes to 15 on KTM Komuter and, in a step to reduce congestion, the first four-car -trainsets on the Kelana Jaya LRT line were received in December 2009.

Read more about the plans

Report Chapter 11: Urban Public Transport

TRANSIT Says:

Members of TRANSIT have attended the GTP Open Days to see what the proposals are for public transport, and to see if there are any changes from the original Open Day in December 2009.

Until the discussion takes place among TRANSIT members, we will have to hold off on giving feedback. For the moment, we encourage those interested to download and read the documents, and give us as much feedback as possible.

We can tell you that TRANSIT members Zul and Moaz held a very long discussion over coffee with the members of the Urban Public Transport Panel Lab team, discussing various issues related to their proposals and our concerns, as well as the roadmap for moving forward.

Some of those details will be discussed here on this website at a later date.

In the meantime, WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK! Please read the relevant reports and give us as much feedback as you can in the space below, or emailed to klangvalley.transit@gmail.com