KUALA LUMPUR: Public transport infrastructure cannot be viewed solely from a financial aspect as it can bring long-term benefits to the country in generating economic growth, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
Public transport infrastructure, he said, generates the growth of cities, ensures good connectivity between one place and another and facilitates the movement of people.
"In the context of the construction of public transport infrastructure, there are various benefits apart from what is being invested.
"From a financial point of view, it is quite difficult for the government to get back what has been spent because the collection from fares is low because we charge relatively low fares.
"In addition, we also subsidise the purchase of monthly passes at only RM50 each. The government needs to spend RM200 million a year to implement the initiative," he said at a press conference at the Parliament building here today.
Loke was commenting on the findings from the Auditor General's Report, which had flagged MRT Corp for its unstable financial position despite achieving its establishment objectives as a developer and asset owner of MRT1 and MRT2.
According to the report, the performance of these two transportation projects in terms of number of daily passengers, number of trains operating and frequency of peak hour train services still had not reached the targets set in the MRT1 and MRT2 Railway Schemes. (Link: https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2024/07/1072453/auditor-genera...)
Loke hoped that the public, including members of parliament, would look at the report's findings from various angles.
"The government is aware that development capital expenditure will take a long time to recover," he said.
He added that the audit report took an inaccurate example of context, where the use of the MRT was only 10 percent of the target.
"That was in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic when people couldn't travel. Of course, when we had the lockdown for months, people could not travel and the use of the MRT1, MRT2 and all public transport plummeted," he said.
He said that after Covid-19, daily ridership increased again by an average of 139,000 in 2022; 204,000 in 2023 and currently almost 240,000.
"This year, we have seen an increase of 18 per cent. We expect that by 2026, MRT1 ridership will reach 300,000 daily," he said.
Meanwhile, Loke said the government has no plans to review fare rates for the MRT, LRT, and bus services, despite it being proposed to the ministry.
"Given the current cost of living pressures, the government will continue to promote the use of public transport. Therefore, there is no need to worry as fares for buses, LRT and MRT will remain while we continue to promote their use.
"We offer incentives such as the My50 pass and encourage the public to use public transport, which will help alleviate traffic congestion.
"I understand that traffic congestion is severe and although we have explored various measures including adding buses, bus lanes, and improving public transportation, we have not yet achieved significant success," he said.