TRANSIT notes this article in the Star Metro today, in which Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng comments on RapidKL bus services in the Segambut & Taman Sri Sinar areas.
Public bus service provider RapidKL has been urged to improve services in Taman Sri Sinar and the surrounding areas in Segambut.
Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng said the company could have focused only on lucrative routes and neglected inner routes.
“The bus service is irregular and that causes a lot of inconvenience to those who do not have vehicles,” he told reporters on Saturday at a bus stop in Jalan 30/38A.
He said the bus driver told him that the bus came every 20 minutes during peak hours but there was no fixed schedule during non-peak hours.
[TRANSIT: Not really acceptable – hopefully RapidKL staff will look into these comments & allegations.]
Unreliable: Bus commuters in Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut, waiting for the buses. They claimed that the service is irregular. Image courtesy of The Star
He added that he had written two letters to Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd, one in July last year and the other last month, to highlight the matter but received no response.
[TRANSIT: Again, this is not really acceptable – but it shows you how hard it is to communicate & share feedback sometimes. If an MP is getting no response (allegedly) then think how tough it can be for TRANSIT.]
Lim said the company was awarded a concessionaire contract to provide stage bus services in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Baru, and it should provide fair service to all.
[TRANSIT: Not exactly – RapidKL does not provide services in Penang – RapidPenang is a separate company – and there is no “rapid” service in JB…unless YB knows something that we at TRANSIT do not.]
“Under the 10th Malaysia Plan, the government is allocating RM100mil for the expansion of bus service and I hope the company can provide quality service,” he added.
Resident John Rajamani, 41, said two Cityliner buses and one Metro bus used to service the housing estate but now there was only RapidKL.
“The unreliable service has deterred many from taking public transport,” he said, adding that air-conditioning in the buses was bad, too.
Another resident, Mohd Ishak Sidin, 41, said commuters going to work in the morning had no choice but to walk 700m to a bus stop in Jalan Segambut because more buses plied the route.
[TRANSIT: Walking 700m in the morning to the main road is not ‘terrible’ but one must consider that not all persons in Malaysia are highly mobile so it would be better if RapidKL could stick to its own standards of bus stops at 400m placements.]
He added that there should also be feeder buses connecting the housing estates with the Segambut KTM station.
TRANSIT Says:
Firstly, we appreciate the efforts of the Segambut MP to highlight the public transport situation in his area and suggest improvements.
He should also contact SPAD CEO Mohamad Nur Ismal Kamal and let him know about the issue that he is facing – SPAD being the regulator, can do what is necessary to get RapidKL to improve the service standards.
Overall, the article should make it clear that we need better public transport on the ground, not more LRT and MRT megaprojects. That means more investment in service infrastructure (more buses, routes, drivers) and service quality (higher standards, better performance, and better service).
Investing RM36-50 billion into the MRT projects may sound like a lot but we could see major improvements to public transport service for a lot less money, if more people paid attention to the little details and gave feedback.
So thank you, YB Lim and we hope that you will continue to push for better public transport services, along with your MP colleagues.
Transit Malaysia 