KUALA LUMPUR: Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana), the operator of the Rapid Rail and Bus services in the Klang Valley and other states; as well as the Rapid Ferry service, will revert to normal operating hours of 6am until midnight when the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) takes effect on Monday.
This follows Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's announcement today of the government's intention to reopen the nation's economic sector in stages from May 4, after the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced nationwide on March 18 to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, operations are dependent on conditions and tight procedures being adhered to in order to keep Covid-19 at bay.
"In line with this, to encourage social distancing in trains and buses, peak travel hours are extended from 7am to 11am in the morning; and between 4pm and 7pm for peak hours in the evening for all services.
"This means higher frequency of trains during these periods," said Prasarana's group chief operating officer (Operations) Muhammad Nizam Alias in a statement today.
For morning and evening peak hours on the Kelana Jaya LRT Line, train frequency has been set at a 3 minute intervals; while for the Ampang/Sri Petaling LRT line, the frequency had been set at 6 minutes apart.
The Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT service has a peak frequency of 4 minutes; while the monorail service operates at a frequency of 6 minutes.
"In addition, we will place additional staff to control passengers at station entrances and platforms to ensure social distancing in trains. Of course, this is something which is quite challenging. So, we ask that all passengers cooperate closely with our staff in carrying out their duties.
"The power to break the Covid-19 transmission chain is in the hands of the people and the public transport service users. You must be willing to do undertake social distancing practice voluntarily and support one another.
"Trains and buses will also have special signs to help with social distancing measures. We are on our guard," said Nizam.
He added that in implementing appropriate social distancing measures, trains will only carry 50 per cent of their full passenger capacity; while for buses, this will be 30 per cent.
Nizam also advised rail, bus and ferry passengers to wear face masks while continuing to practice good personal hygiene, especially washing hands regularly with hand sanitisers, which will be provided at all LRT, MRT, monorail and BRT services, bus hubs and ferry terminals.
"Work in disinfecting bus stations and bus hubs; as well as on trains and buses managed by Prasarana, as well as its ferries, will be continued in a diligent manner, as it was done in the past.
"Staff on duty, particularly bus captains, members of the auxiliary Police Force, and station staff, will have their respective temperatures checked before they are allowed to commence work.
"But, as I mentioned, any effort from us at Prasarana in curbing the Covid-19 outbreak will not succeed without the full cooperation of all our loyal customers. We need to work together to make sure we win," Nizam added.
The MCO period saw a significant drop in the number of public transport users during the first phase, which kicked-off on March 18.
Passenger decline for Rapid KL was 65.1 per cent; Rapid Penang (50.8 per cent), MRT feeder bus (75.7 per cent), Rapid Kuantan (62 per cent); and bus rapid transit (BRT) Sunway line (79.5 per cent).
Rapid Rail operates the Kelana Jaya, Sri Petaling and Ampang LRT lines; as well as the KL Monorail and Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT Line.
Rapid Bus operates Rapid KL stage bus services, as well as Rapid Penang, Rapid Kuantan, Rapid Manjung and Rapid Kamunting.
The Rapid Ferry operates the rapid shuttle ferry service between Butterworth and George Town in Penang.