Today happens to be World Carfree Day – every September 22, the initiative to go carless for the day is held, to remind us why we shouldn’t be beholden to the vehicle. Of course, that’s easier said than done – forsaking the car in getting about one’s daily business, especially here in KL, is very much a pipe dream for most on weekdays.
On weekends, however, there’s a better chance of needing – and wanting – to go around with a car, and with that in mind, Prasarana is looking to do its bit to help reduce the carbon footprint; the company is offering a total of 150,000 free one-way travel coupons on the Light Rail Transit (LRT) as well as the Monorail system. The initiative – in support of World Carfree Day – will see these passes being handed out on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, from today. No mention of when the campaign stops; presumably, when the passes run out, one assumes.
The bus service to and fro to stations now features 150 additional buses (with expanded area coverage), which Prasarana says brings down the waiting time for one from 20 minutes to 15, and there are bicycle parking facilities available at 17 LRT stations, if you think you’re game to go two-wheeled part of the way. Might want to bring enough locks to secure your ride though.
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Good initiative by Prasarana, even though everybody knows that KL is going to be what it normally be everyday, with traffic jams like hell everywhere. In the end, we can see so many Honda Civics on the road rather than civic-minded people who would definitely join the Prasarana’s cause.
The LRT got aircond one ar? i really hav no idea…
Just curious. Why do some people choose to drive to the office everyday? Is it because of personal safety, the home/office is several kilometers from a bus/train station, parking costs only 10 dollars a day near the office, fuel is very affordable, no traffic jam during time of travel, driving takes 30 minutes but public transport 60 minutes, taking public transport is perceived to be “low class”, or simply because there is a car at home so it must be fully utilized?
Because All of the mentioned above, except don’t pay any parking charges at my office and fuel price is not that affordable but hey I’m driving a 1.3 liter car. And that give me a lot of fuel savings. :-)
myself and thousands of people live on the out skirts of KL that does not have proper or even have any public transportation at all. those include kajang, bangi, semenyih, seremban and so on.
even though KTM reaches to these areas, the delays and the irregularity of the train makes us cringe of taking the train.
busses takes twice the amount of time compared to driving a car since they have many stops..
yes, driving is expensive, parking is expensive, fuel is expensive.. but for our sanity and freedom, we just prefer to drive…
with proper planning its much quicker to reach the office, save fuel and get a relatively affordable parking space…
The current komuter service is problematic, because the politicians did not want the country to pay xx million dollars for replacement trains. So, the passengers have to endure until the new komuter trains are deployed end of this year and next year. Meanwhile, the politicians continue to travel around in their Camrys, Perdanas and Mercedes purchased and maintained using public fund.
Agreed. Look at the length of our railway network. It is actually decreasing from those during the British colonialisation era.
u mean the 30km which was previously in singapore? the other from thailand and kelantan to johor is still there lah. and actually the length is doubling because now they’re upgrading it to double tracks for the whole peninsular.
I don’t really mean that, because the section from Woodlands to Tanjung Pagar is very recently discontinued due to the recent agreement by both Malaysia and Singapore. Plus, the section is in the neighbouring country’s territory even though it is owned by KTM. There are actually sections that has been cut off and most Malaysians don’t even know the existence of those lines at all.
Let me list down some lines that have been dismantled or unused:-
1. Taiping – Kuala Sepetang (dismantled)
2. Tapah Road – Teluk Intan (dismantled)
3. Klang – Kuala Selangor (dismantled)
4. Kuang – Batu Arang – Batang Berjuntai (dismantled)
5. Subang Jaya – Subang Airport (unused)
6. Pasir Mas – Rantau Panjang (unused; only as emergency route)
7. Bahau – Kuala Pilah (dismantled)
8. Tampin – Melaka (dismantled)
Besides that, the Rapid KL Sri Petaling and Ampang lines are also built on the former KTM routes from Ampang / Bandar Tasik Selatan to Pudu.
owh.. those are no longer useful as there is no more cargo from those bijih timah areas. some are very short, more economical if they use lorries . and some of those tracks were stolen by metal thieves.
Then might as well you use motorbikes to go to work… but even though we already know that KL is a traffic jam hell with very limited parking space, expensive tolls and the petrol price that is no longer cheap, most KLites still insist on using one car per person. It is us KLites ourselves who have already robbed that kind of freedoms that you mention.
where to get the passes?
As is the case, there’s no mention of where, but I suppose the stations would be the best place to start.
In my case it is caused by the inconvenience cause by the lack of a proper time schedule. I simple can’t predict when the bus will next come. Also, some of the metro buses will only move if the bus is packed full.
oh phewh, bike rider here.
As much as I wanted to support this, its kinda tough. I stay at a place where public bus does not even exist! While I can cycle to the lrt station which is 20+ km away, I’m concern I might get knock down by the many reckless vehicles on the road, what more there is no dedicated bicycle lane. So, I decided to work from Home today. And so is my wife. As a matter of fact, I’m already carpooling with my wife, yes, with slight detour but am doing part lah…
I hope the CEO and management of Prasarana will take the lead and cycle from home to LRT station then take LRT station to work, or take the bus direct from their home to their office. Then, they will understand the Rakyat’s dilemma better. I bet the CEO is chaffeur-driven to work, what does he care about the traffic.
Once there were several Pakatan Rakyat’s MB cycling to the Parliament, and there was even a bus ferrying some other Pakatan MBs.
At least you still have some civic concern and have done your part by carpooling. Toll discounts should be given for carpools rather than individual drivers.
Try googling “Prasarana MD walks the talk”….Good to know that the CEO / Group MD of Prasarana really does commute / take the LRT to work.
Good info… that’s what we call as “kepimpinan melalui teladan”, where the CEO / MD of Prasarana himself uses LRT to go to work, and his house is just very near to an LRT station, which adds another bonus. That’s we he is capable to convince people to use public transport rather than cars.
They should cater certain sections of the trains for bicycles so cyclists could bring along their bikes onto the trains and continue to cycle at the other end of the destination.
love this idea!
on top of that they should offer bicycles rental !!
and then and then,
when inside the trains cyclists can continue cycling inside the designated bicycle’s docking system which can generate electricity for the LRT aircond and lighting system, for every kw of power generated discount will be given accordingly to cyclist !!
Thanks Paultan coz sharing this campaign!
Dear All,
Please follow our twitter (@MyRapidKL) and facebook.com/myrapid to get the info about the location to get the free coupon.
Go Green With RapidKL
Thanks a lot too for introducing this campaign. I hope that the construction of those MRT lines announced by Najib will start sooner and complete faster so that we will be able to convince more KLites to rely more on public transport for daily commuting rather than cars; the laziest of them are supposed to use motorbikes. That’s the real way to make our KL greener and cleaner from noxious pollutants besides free-flowing roads with almost zero traffic jam.