On October 15, 2010, Prime Minister Dato'Seri Najib announced the 2011 budget proposal. Of the many good news, one strikes me off my chair. The government had approved the allocation of RM40 billion (approx. USD13 billion) MRT (mass rapid transit) project in Greater Kuala Lumpur.
As professional transport planner, this is indeed great news which I accept with high hope that it will finally improve Kuala Lumpur traffic woes. However, I must say that, at the same time, I am also sceptical of the success as MRT alone is not enough to encourage people to use public transport and leave their cars at home.
Having the pull factor, i.e offering MRT, without some tough push factors will almost put the project's success in jeopardy. In some near future, I expect the government to spell out measures that will discourage commuters to drive their private vehicles. If the government failed to implement/introduce these push factors like limiting parking spaces in the city or having congestion pricing, the proposed MRT will receive the same fate as our existing LRT systems which failed to attract drivers.
As a final note, I also hope that the government will try harder to improve our existing public transport systems especially public buses and KTM Komuter which together will form an important feeder link to the proposed MRT.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Why I hate myself for using KTM Komuter and do not feel guilty about it.
Today, I waited for almost half an hour for a train to arrive at Setia Jaya. For a busy person like me this is unbearable, not to mention a sheer waste of my precious time. No wonder business people shun away from using public transport.
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