Public transport: Who is the boss?

THE Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit (Transit) regrets the government’s recent involvement in pressuring RapidKL to abolish the widely accepted all-day pass fare system for buses.

The directive, which is supposed to make RapidKL’s competitors happy, is a serious drawback in overhauling our public transport system.

A core criterion of an effective public transport system is the ability to maximise transit interchange possibilities of various public transport modes (bus, train, etc) to efficiently move a large number of people to reach their destinations faster and easier.

We have witnessed during the pre-RapidKL era how point-to-point travelling (where one mode of public transport is expected to carry commuters from their backyards right to their workplaces) was counter-productive to commuting convenience and created havoc with city traffic.

RapidKL was on the right track when it introduced the hub-and-spoke system, where commuters have the liberty to transit in between different bus routes without facing hurdles such as having to pay additional fares.

It is the lack of infrastructural integration to even facilitate fast and easy transit interchanges between different RapidKL bus routes (not to mention seamless integration with other operators and with different transit modes) and the lack of proper support systems to prevent the buses from being bogged down by traffic bottlenecks that cause commuters to shun RapidKL buses despite the attractive RM2 all-day fare.

Instead of addressing these root problems, the government bowed to the other operators and made RapidKL more unattractive to the masses by asking RapidKL to follow the fare structure of the other inefficient operators. Although these bus operators do not have access to taxpayers’ money as RapidKL does, the government cannot assume RapidKL has an unfair advantage with its low-fare pricing structure. The other operators are guilty of delivering poor quality service, and the government is guilty of not providing the necessary infrastructure and support systems, both of which evidently perpetuate the condition of the pre-RapidKL commuting environment.

Instead of pressuring RapidKL, the government should provide equal funding opportunities for other operators in return for meeting transit performance targets.

The High Court has set Sept 30 as the date to decide on a judicial review application by Metrobus to pressure the CVLB to enforce the same rates of fare on RapidKL, and it is with high hope that the government will finally have some sense to realise that public-funded public transport is a mobility right for every individual whose livelihood is affected by traffic congestion.

To force RapidKL’s fare and operational structure to follow that of other bus operators is equal to allowing the pre-RapidKL commuting environment to persist, and hence to deny the citizens of Klang Valley of their mobility rights.

Public transport investment (which is more accurate than the term “subsidy”) is imperative to negate all negative externalities associated with lessening quality of urban life as a result of dependency on private vehicles. Without the public sector’s lead, public transport will remain unattractive as it is natural for private investors to avoid absorbing the costs of setting up proper support systems needed to match the convenience that private transport offers.

A single occupancy vehicle driver takes up more public-funded travelling space than a passenger in a fully-seated bus, and hence uses a much bigger portion of the government’s coffers. It is time for the government to face up to the reality and decide who is the boss: the commuters or the shareholders of transport companies.

Text by Zulkarnain Hamzah
letters - sun2surf.com

1st post

This is my 1st post in my 1st blogging day..

Will add more post on various topics in English & Malay..

Hope will get positive comments...

Anyway, I wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Malaysian...