I don't know him and have no shares in his company but reading his frequent articles in malaysiakini and the local press, he has a passion to make a contribution to public transport in the country.To me public transport took a back seat in Malaysia because the authorities were too obsessed to get more Malaysians buy small cars that are really death traps on wheels.
We introduced the mass rapid transit systems in KL but just look at the mess of the different systems where there is no overall seamless system in terms of interchanges or even fair collections. I wonder if they thought of using uniform tracks so that the trains could also be atandardised to reduce spare parts costs.
I took the LRT about 3 years ago so I am not sure if there have been any move towards a single payment system.
One does have to go far to study how a good public transport system works. In fact I make a study about once a week when I take the bus and MRT back from Singapore to JB. Now new public buses in Singapore are installed with an adjustable ramp for wheel-chairs.
Apart from the well-planned locations of interchanges between MRT stations and buses, bus stops are also built just below the MRT stations and always sheltered. The key to quick travel is the EZ-link card, a prepaid card that you tap on a reader and records your start and end of trip. You can read here
how it works .
The mess in public transport is a simple indicator of how bad the master plans have been and it will take years to provide a good sustainable system.
Graphic: Thanks to EZ-link
2 comments:
The LRT system in KL could have been more efficient and probably generated more reveune if certain issues had been sorted out at the planning stage.
First, a radial route system vs the present linear routing may have serve the population better such as the JR in Tokyo.
Second, there was no need for two companies to operate.
Lastly, the choice of transit stops could have been better planned, the most glaring is the avoidance of the Mid Valley Mall. If they were willing to spend a bit more money to join this gigantic commercial and office complex with the LRT, the revenues would have easily covered the incremental cost.
I am not even an engineer but merely an ordinary Joe Rakyat. My point is that it does not need any expert to see what would have worked.
trashed
thanks for your comments.
Based on how we do things, I don't expect any forward planning was done to allow the addition of a Circle Line to allow a more complete system.
Don't worry. Many so-called CONsultants cannot suggest ideas better than ordinary folks!
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