THE Malaysian government has made sterling efforts over recent years to improve public transport, with a wide variety of alternatives now available to the public.
Travellers can take advantage of a six-line Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, three Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines, a commuter rail network whose four lines bring passengers in from the suburbs, a monorail serving as a people mover, and a recently revamped bus network covering Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas.
This extensive menu of transportation choices suggests that Kuala Lumpur commuters are spoilt for choice, but, unfortunately, despite efforts to promote public transport, KL residents’ favourite means of transport continues to be the private car, with the result that the city’s roads feature massive daily traffic jams.
In fact, the World Bank report estimates that Greater Kuala Lumpur residents “spend more than 250 million hours a year stuck in traffic”. One key reason for these traffic jams is the sheer number of cars on the road. Malaysia has the third highest car ownership rate in the world, according to a Nielsen survey.
Changes in domestic automobile and fuel subsidies, and commitment to increasing investment in an MRT system, demonstrate that the Malaysian authorities have recognised that transportation nightmares are a serious threat to the smooth functioning of the capital city. However, private automobile traffic is not going to melt away overnight, and one challenge faced by the city administration is how to manage it and integrate it into a comprehensive urban transit system.
With this in mind, the government has launched the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley Land Public Transport Master Plan. This ambitious initiative sets out an integrated 20-year plan to transform land public transport in the region.
The objectives of the master plan include the integration of all land public transport modes (i.e. bus, rail and taxi) to provide users with a seamless journey of high quality. To achieve this aim will require the integration of private transport data as well, leading to aggregated, comprehensive and real-time data on road traffic.
Data analytics is clearly key to resolving Kuala Lumpur’s transport situation; how can the science be applied?
A project by a leading United States university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies & Planning points the way. A number of papers published under this project show the need for every element of the public transport eco-system to be interconnected, to provide critical real-time data. Analysis of this data can serve to augment intelligence and manage anomalies in real-time.
Predictive maintenance, for example, can be scheduled to minimise vehicle breakdowns, the great bugbear of commuters. Data feeds on the areas and timings of regular traffic congestion can allow for the planning of more efficient bus routes as well as managing peak-period congestion at bus stops with more frequent services for popular routes.
This may sound esoteric, but, it is really not rocket science, and other countries are already using data analysis to help manage their public transport issues.
What can Kuala Lumpur learn from best practices around the world that are alleviating these challenges for transport authorities, service providers and consumers?
According to a report by McKinsey & Company, the collection and strategic use of information can improve forecasting and help to nudge behaviour in ways that improve the reliability of transport infrastructure and increase its efficiency and utilisation.
The report cites Holland as one of many examples to benefit from the application of big data analytics.
The Dutch Railways is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands, providing rail services on the Dutch main-rail network and international services to other European destinations. Running these vast networks gives Dutch Railways access to huge amounts of data, collected through intelligent train technology, ticketing systems, travel information real-time monitoring and services for maintenance and control unit staff.
Until now, train suppliers delivered all this information technology, so that each type of train had its own IT environment — making it difficult to work together and maintain each system. Dutch Railways had a vision to integrate all this information to deliver more reliable and better service to customers. Using streaming analytics, in-memory computing, integration and messaging software, Dutch Railways is now able to provide real-time information about train services and maintenance scheduling. Commuters are also able to use a travel planner application to ensure a seamless and prompt commute.
The clear conclusion is that digitising infrastructure networks can improve forecasting, promote reliability and increase efficiency.
The Malaysian government has already taken the first step with the launch of the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley Land Public Transport Master Plan.
The challenge now is to open up and encourage the sharing of transport data among all the stakeholders — transport operators, system providers and citizens alike. This will speed up the development of practical solutions to reduce congestion, improve waiting times and overcome commuter inconvenience.
Embracing technology in this area will not only improve our daily lives but provide important support for Kuala Lumpur’s role as a leading regional city.
The writer is the general manager of Asia Pacific and Japan of
a company that provides
infrastructure and business
intelligence software worldwide