TBS Update: Over 50 bus operators agree to relocate to Bandar Tasik Selatan

TRANSIT took note of this update on Terminal Bersepadu Selatan at Bandar Tasik Selatan.

Over 50 bus operators agree to relocate to Bandar Tasik Selatan (The Star)
By ISABELLE LAI
isabellelai@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: The new Inte­grated Transportation Terminal at Bandar Tasik Selatan (ITT-BTS) will finally be fully operational with more than 50 bus operators agreeing to locate there from March 1.

Land Public Transport Comm­ission (SPAD) head of state operations and terminal licensing Mohd Fuad Ahmad said 34 operators would use e-ticketing systems.

“These operators who have met our selection criteria have counters to sell their own tickets,” he said after heading the balloting session attended by 56 bus operators yesterday.

[TRANSIT: We will try to find out what those selection criteria are.]

Those who did not have an e-ticketing system or had less than 10 trips per day were not given counters and were encouraged to sell their tickets under the BTS system instead.

He also urged the public to come to ITT-BTS instead of the Bukit Jalil terminal beginning March 1 for all south-bound trips, except to and from Seremban.

Meanwhile, bus operators expressed full confidence that they would be able to begin business by the March 1 deadline.

Konsortium Transnasional Bhd (KTB) human resources and corporate services head Abdul Samad Kamari said KTB had been allocated four counters as it conducts over a hundred trips per day.

The counters are up and everything is ready for us to move in over the weekend,” he said.

Causeway Link Express supervisor Tay Cheng Hoe said the state-of-the-art facilites would be good for business as it would draw more passengers.

Eltabina Jaya Sdn Bhd director Abdul Halim Mohamed said the new bus terminal was a win-win situation for both bus operators and passengers.

“We don’t normally operate under such great facilities,” he said.

TRANSIT Says:

The members of TRANSIT note that 50 bus operators will be taking up spaces at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan at Bandar Tasik Selatan on March 1.

The presence of bus operators will be welcomed, as many have worried that the disputes over when the terminal would start operations have been embarrassing and left people wondering how such an important project can be so poorly managed.

Now, we still have issues with the bus operator information and bus scheduling on the tbsbts.com.my website, but that is an issue for another post.

Aside from the bus operators, TRANSIT wants to know what kind of a presence the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) will have at the terminal.

We have noted that one of the biggest issues with public transport in Malaysia is the lack of enforcement of regulations. The Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (the former regulator, now replaced by SPAD) often complained that they did not have enough enforcement officers and that it was hard to get the public to make formal complaints about touting, fare manipulation, aggressive behaviour, etc.

SPAD is supposed to have at least 500 enforcement officers (compared to CVLB which had less than 60), which would hopefully address the issue of not having enough personnel. But if they have no regular, reliable presence at the bus terminals, how will the public be able to complain and give feedback right away?

TRANSIT has already noted complaints about overcharging and aggressive behaviour at the terminal. In other words, the troubles that plague our public transport system are already starting and SPAD must prevent this as soon as possible.

TRANSIT wants a dedicated SPAD desk to be placed at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan. This desk would act as a SPAD customer service counter for suggestions and feedback, as well as establishing a permanent presence for SPAD enforcement teams. Once Puduraya is reopened, a similar desk should be set up there, as well as at KL Sentral, Hentian Duta, KLIA and LCCT, the future Gombak and Sg. Buloh terminals, as well as major bus terminals throughout Peninsular Malaysia.

And we would like to invite SPAD Chair Syed Hamid Albar, SPAD CEO Mohd Nur Ismal Kamal and the SPAD COO as well as other senior management to spend time at the SPAD desk, even just one hour per month each, so that the public can see who is in charge of SPAD and know that they can take their concerns will be addressed directly.

This is the kind of proactive, “People First, Performance Now” attitude that SPAD must display in order to bring about change to public transport in Peninsular Malaysia.

We await the response from SPAD.