Routes will be popular
The two new GO-KL routes to be launched on Thursday will increase the ridership of the free intracity bus service to 40,000 passengers daily.
This is twice the number of passengers currently plying the two existing routes under GO-KL.
Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said this during the test run of buses plying one of the two new routes.
The buses under the red and blue lines cover a total of 10.8km and 9.2km, respectively, and will be operated by Cityliner under a one-year contract awarded through an open tender system.
The previous green and purple lines, however, are being run by RapidKL. The red line starts its journey at KL Sentral and stops at KTM KL as its 18th stop before making its way back to KL Sentral.
The blue line starts its journey at Medan Mara and makes 16 stops before returning to Medan Mara.
At Maju Junction here yesterday, Syed Hamid said the government gave SPAD an allocation of RM24 million to provide the service under the National Key Result Areas initiative.
"This service is very popular even though there are complaints by some. It is especially well received by the generation-Y and I know this because my own children use the service.
"I also think the new routes are also going to be popular and I'm sure it may even be more popular than the existing routes. People wanted to come onboard today even though it is a trial run," he added.
He also said the bus was more cost-effective and environmentally friendly as it used gas and one fill lasts up to 200km, cutting the need to shuttle up and down to the bus depot to refuel.
There are now 14 and 11 buses that would be plying the newly introduced red and blue lines, respectively.
It was also learnt that the existing green and purple lines had a total of 30 plus buses plying both routes. Buses arrive at stops under all the four routes every five minutes during peak hours and 10 to 15 minutes during off peak times.
Syed Hamid added that SPAD would also study the possibility of increasing the number of buses and service routes if there were additional demand.
On a possible repeat of protests by taxi associations on the launch of the service, he called on them to move forward.
"They have to stop all this. It is not good for the country. They are making something out of nothing, we are talking about becoming a developed country and how can they have an attitude to prevent the public from getting the best service.
"Let us cooperate instead as the free service will never take away the livelihood of the drivers. I never imagined the group the service is tackling is the same as the clusters the taxis were going after. It is a different segment entirely," he said, adding that traffic crawls cause loss in fuel, time and profits.
In a move to protest the free service when they were introduced in late 2012, taxi drivers blocked a road in Bukit Bintang for a few hours.
On the challenge of traffic crawls and obstructions on bus lanes that delay buses, Syed Hamid said the struggle for public transport had a lot to do with people's mindset.
"If there is a yellow line, it is a no-parking zone. In Japan every one is civic-minded and park their cars orderly.
"Even though we have asked City Hall to clear obstruction at stops, bus waiting zones and bus lanes near Rapid KL's Ampang Line when our first two routes were introduced, errant motorists have now come back.
"We have to make Malaysian road users rule-compliant. City Hall has constructed bus lanes but they are not for parking and to enforce these rules, we need City Hall's help. I think it would be good if illegally parked vehicles are towed."
ROUTES MAP
~News courtesy of New Straits Times~
The two new GO-KL routes to be launched on Thursday will increase the ridership of the free intracity bus service to 40,000 passengers daily.
This is twice the number of passengers currently plying the two existing routes under GO-KL.
Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said this during the test run of buses plying one of the two new routes.
The buses under the red and blue lines cover a total of 10.8km and 9.2km, respectively, and will be operated by Cityliner under a one-year contract awarded through an open tender system.
The previous green and purple lines, however, are being run by RapidKL. The red line starts its journey at KL Sentral and stops at KTM KL as its 18th stop before making its way back to KL Sentral.
The blue line starts its journey at Medan Mara and makes 16 stops before returning to Medan Mara.
At Maju Junction here yesterday, Syed Hamid said the government gave SPAD an allocation of RM24 million to provide the service under the National Key Result Areas initiative.
"This service is very popular even though there are complaints by some. It is especially well received by the generation-Y and I know this because my own children use the service.
"I also think the new routes are also going to be popular and I'm sure it may even be more popular than the existing routes. People wanted to come onboard today even though it is a trial run," he added.
He also said the bus was more cost-effective and environmentally friendly as it used gas and one fill lasts up to 200km, cutting the need to shuttle up and down to the bus depot to refuel.
There are now 14 and 11 buses that would be plying the newly introduced red and blue lines, respectively.
It was also learnt that the existing green and purple lines had a total of 30 plus buses plying both routes. Buses arrive at stops under all the four routes every five minutes during peak hours and 10 to 15 minutes during off peak times.
Syed Hamid added that SPAD would also study the possibility of increasing the number of buses and service routes if there were additional demand.
On a possible repeat of protests by taxi associations on the launch of the service, he called on them to move forward.
"They have to stop all this. It is not good for the country. They are making something out of nothing, we are talking about becoming a developed country and how can they have an attitude to prevent the public from getting the best service.
"Let us cooperate instead as the free service will never take away the livelihood of the drivers. I never imagined the group the service is tackling is the same as the clusters the taxis were going after. It is a different segment entirely," he said, adding that traffic crawls cause loss in fuel, time and profits.
In a move to protest the free service when they were introduced in late 2012, taxi drivers blocked a road in Bukit Bintang for a few hours.
On the challenge of traffic crawls and obstructions on bus lanes that delay buses, Syed Hamid said the struggle for public transport had a lot to do with people's mindset.
"If there is a yellow line, it is a no-parking zone. In Japan every one is civic-minded and park their cars orderly.
"Even though we have asked City Hall to clear obstruction at stops, bus waiting zones and bus lanes near Rapid KL's Ampang Line when our first two routes were introduced, errant motorists have now come back.
"We have to make Malaysian road users rule-compliant. City Hall has constructed bus lanes but they are not for parking and to enforce these rules, we need City Hall's help. I think it would be good if illegally parked vehicles are towed."
ROUTES MAP
~News courtesy of New Straits Times~
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