TRANSIT: Shah Alam stadium would make a great Park & Ride facility

TRANSIT took note of this interesting article, which describes concerns some residents have over the use of a section of the parking lot at Stadium Shah Alam for a used car lot:

Residents unhappy with council for renting out part of carpark at Shah Alam Stadium (The Star 1 March 2011)

This time we are not going to publish the full content of the article because it isn’t really necessary. We note from the article that the MBSA has confirmed that this section of the car park was rented out last year and the council receives RM12,000 monthly in rental.

TRANSIT Says:

With not much in the way of activities going on at the Stadium Shah Alam complex, renting out a section of the parking lot is not unreasonable and it does give the council revenue.

However … we have to wonder why the massive space of the Stadium Shah Alam has not been discovered for its potential public transport uses! Interestingly enough, the MBSA did plan a new bus terminal in the area, near the Klang River (see the renderings here)

But TRANSIT believes that the Stadium parking lots themselves would make for an excellent intermodal transport terminal because:

• The stadium area is located roughly equal distance from the NKVE and Federal Highway;
• KTM Komuter station Batu Tiga is located nearby – a shuttle bus could connect between the terminal and station with relative ease;
• The Kelana Jaya LRT can be extended to the Stadium area after Subang Jaya KTM station;
• Drivers on the Federal Highway could park at the Stadium area and avoid paying that toll at Batu Tiga;
• Drivers on the NKVE could reduce their toll cost by traveling fewer kilometers – with a reduction in traffic volute helping to reduce the notorious jam at the Subang toll;

Types of services that could be introduced might include:

• Limited-stop & Intra-urban Express buses (Expressway Rapid Transit) from the stadium (let’s call it “ITT-Barat”) to Klang (via Federal Highway) and Bukit Raja (via NKVE) and Rawang (via Guthrie Corridor). See the map of TRANSIT’s proposal here;
• Limited-stop & Intra-urban express bus services (Expressway Rapid Transit) from “ITT-Barat” (Stadium Shah Alam) to north, east, and central areas of KL (Jalan Duta & Ampang via NKVE, KL town via Federal Highway);
• Intercity express buses utilizing the NKVE, KLITE and Guthrie Corridor Expressway;
• An ITT shuttle connecting connects all 4 integrated transport terminals (Bandar Tasik Selatan, Gombak, Sg. Buloh and Shah Alam) – assuming that Shah Alam ITT is built;
• Shah Alam Circulator bus service (see a map showing TRANSIT’s proposal here) based at the ITT Shah Alam hub
• Shuttle bus services to the Glenmarie industrial area, similar to the B.E.S.T. shuttle bus operating in Penang;
• Inter-Airport shuttle bus linking Subang Airport to KLIA (possibly sponsored byMalaysia Airlines’ subsidiary Firefly Airlines, which has operations at both airports). If you support such a shuttle, stopping at “ITT-Barat” or in Subang Jaya, tell Firefly! Their contact information is here.;

So what do you think? Should there be a 4th Integrated Transport Terminal, completing all the cardinal directions (South, East, North, West) of ITT service in the Greater Klang Valley?

Would an inter-modal bus terminal & Park & Ride facility encourage people from Shah Alam and Klang to use public transport? Would such a terminal help realign bus services along the major east-west (Federal Highway, NKVE, even KESAS) and north-south (ELITE, Guthrie) road transport corridors in the western half of the Greater Klang Valley?

Most importantly, would such a terminal help reduce the numbers of cars that enter Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya on a daily basis?

Even more importantly, how quickly can this solution be in place?