MODERNISATION of the country’s public transport infrastructure was somewhat delayed when compared with Singapore. Part of the reason was the need to develop the country’s heavy industry, which took the form of Proton, the national car manufacturer. An important component of economic development, the heavy industry venture required roads, but not competition. However, that led to traffic congestion as commuting to and from the workplace by car owners grew. With the new millennium, the problem needed to be resolved because congested roads meant economic inefficiency. With that, the challenge was set to arrive at a 40:60 ratio of public transport to private vehicles on the roads by 2030.
First came the rail systems, the Putra and Star light rail transit (LRT) and KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd), as well as the ERL (Express Rail Link) to KLIA. Then came the monorail. Feeder buses around commuter trains grew to service the passengers, but it was slow and time consuming. Although the commuter trains were jam-packed during rush hours, the system did not develop in tandem to gain popularity. This led to the formation of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd to enable a more concerted and integrated effort to modernise public transport. It came on stream in 2002 with the takeover of the two LRT companies. Prasarana moved on the basis of meeting user needs — convenience and affordability — to stimulate growth while expanding the existing systems to accommodate growth in passenger volume to achieve the government’s targeted ratio. Naturally, the modernisation effort began with the capital city, especially, and the Klang Valley generally.
Stepping up the effort meant getting the whole country served by an efficient public transport system that would effortlessly take Malaysians from point A to B. The high-speed rail system from Kuala Lumpur to Perlis is the most recent addition to the travel-in-comfort concept by KTM. Today, a journey to Ipoh takes a mere two hours and where feeder buses are near non-existent, rail stations provide car parks. Improving feeder buses serving the catchment community around the stations should ultimately lead to increased passenger volumes. Rail connections are expanding rapidly, namely the soon-to-be completed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT1) and the proposed high-speed rail connection between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which will reduce travel time to 90 minutes. A competitive fare will make it more convenient than air travel.
Already between the LRT routes, now with a longer reach than the original, and the RapidKL buses, the ridership in the greater Kuala Lumpur area has exceeded a million a day and is targeted to grow to 1.5 million by the middle of the year. This popularity is promising to stop the choke on the city and free up economic opportunities that an efficient urban mobility system provides, like more retail activities, increased productive capacities and hence, more jobs. In large cities all over the world, public transportation is a lucrative business, with an initial investment capable of sparking an economic chain reaction several times its size. It is, too, a major employer.