In June, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai proposed a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line along the Federal Highway. The main aim is to ease congestion on the busy road which spans 45 km from Seputeh in KL to Klang. Electric buses will run on ground level, which means that a lane has to be set aside for buses.
Will the proposed BRT line help? Experts, builders and motorists contacted by The Star have mixed views.
Malaysia Institute of Road Safety Research director-general Prof Dr Wong Shaw Voon said a BRT would be ideal as bus lanes will be separated by a physical border, but Masters Builders Association of Malaysia president Matthew Tee said the lack of space for the project is a concern.
“There must be proper planning. There aren’t any free lanes to use now. As such, I feel that we will end up with a mix of both on-the-ground and elevated BRT lanes,” said Tee, who is the group executive director of Binapuri Holdings.
SPAD chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar is a supporter of the idea. “Even if you have more lanes, it will still get jammed right up to the city. This is why we proposed for a BRT from Pasar Seni right up to Klang,” he said. Atur Trafik analyst Chin Kar Keong prefers an upgrade on today’s transport options. “We have existing systems that are not put to best use,” he said.
Malaysia’s first BRT line opened in Sunway in June, but the entire 5.4 km track from the Sunway commercial area to the Setia Jaya KTM station and upcoming USJ 7 LRT station is elevated. After two months of free trials, the fare structure was recently released.
Have you tried the BRT in Sunway? What do you think of the Federal Highway proposal?
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very good idea to do this special lane right up from Klang to KL, more ppl will take up public transport instead of driving. If the service is reliable and punctual, i’ll definately take take cz currently using LRT kelana Jaya line
here’s my idea on making it happen.
problem: not enough space/land
suggestion:
1) have a custom built “bus” that is skinnier but longer. Make it as skinny as possible, like half of current width. I know, only one side can have chairs, but if make it long enough, that’ll compensate it.
2) if we can have this skinny bus, squeeze it between the two roads, and protect it with concrete barrier.
3) OR, instead of squeezing it between the two guardrails, have it on each side, between the current emergency lane and grasses.
BRT is good because it’s cheaper than tram, but it risks punctuality. With dedicated lane, that’ll make it better.
A long, tall, skinny vehicle running on tires carrying large numbers of people, many of whom are standing. You haven’t thought this through have you?
They have to ensure that excellent ride connectivity is in place if they are to do this. No point driving all the way to a station and parking there before boarding the bus to the destination. Sub-connections prior to the hubs need to be good.
Will definitely deter cars from using them, unlike the current bus lanes in certain areas of the federal highway and in the city, which is close to useless due to the fact that cars and bikes hogging them as well.
That being said, the cost to build this BRT will definitely be huge, and the duration will also be long due to the circumstances, not forgetting the additional congestion it will cause during the construction period as well.
Many things to consider then, before they can even think of approving this project.
great! but close to 100% pedestrian and park and ride connectivity must be ensured to the BRT line and high capacity buses to be used.
Yup agreed. Supporting infrastructure must be in place, as well as integration and connectivity for commuter to switch mode of transport with ease & convenience. Our hot climate doesn’t encourage people to walk far to reach for stations. Covered pedestrian walkway & bicycle hub/park facilities may help.
yeah. its not rocket science isnt it?
I have been use since day 2 opening. i love it. it save me 1/2 hour jam for my day to day work.
Remove the emergency lane aka jump queue lane, there is enough space for a emergency vehicle to squeeze between 2 highway lane.
Increase frequency/trains, punctuality, facilities, stops/stations and feeder buses along present LRT/MRT. SPAD please think outside the box because in the early 80’s I used BMW (BAS MINI WILAYAH).
They’d have to buy up a lot of busses to make this work. The ones on the Sunway track are usually at least half full at any given time; and that’s just with shoppers, students and the odd person running small errands.
Another smaller issue: the seats smell bad from sweaty commuters, especially in the afternoon.
BRT Jalan Lagoon to BRT USJ 7 = RM4.00. Whaddayuthink?
Sunway BRT is crazy expensive, over RM5 from end to end, how to encourage ridership?
Then Klang-Pasar Seni >30km wanna charge how much? RM30? Mak ko hijauuuu
Klang-Pasar Seni BRT gonna be tricky. Along federal highway, they may need to build elevated road, which is gonna be very expensive.
Currently, only the BRT Sunway Line is operational, and at 5.4 km-long for the entire route, the fare for the all-electric bus service works out to RM1.70 (rounded up).
http://paultan.org/2015/07/31/spad-reveals-bus-rapid-transit-brt-fare-structure/
“The fare structure begins at 90 sen for the basic cost, and adds 81.5 sen for the first six kilometres of travel. From six to 12 km, another 51.3 sen is added, and another 42.1 sen covers travel between 12 km to 18 km.
From 18 km to 24 km, an additional 28.2 sen is added to the total, and a final 21.2 sen covers any distance more than 24 km. This means that the maximum BRT travel fare is RM3.15 per ticket.
I dunno what fare paultan got that from, pluck from the sky?
http://imgur.com/vwROTlI
BRT Sunway is RM1.60 to RM5.40. Bodoh piang punya rate.
I support this idea. I will definitely use it from Subang Jaya to KL or Klang. Build it!
The Sunway Brt is crazy expensive. It is suppose to be kind of feeder service but rm2.30 for just 2 stops is not encouraging. Going to be a white elephant soon. Structure will be one giant umbrella
Bodoh piang Prasarana, they have been infected by virus Maslan.
Orang nak naik public transport nak jimat wang, ni charge lagi mahal dari bawa kereta, mak ko hijau benoooor!!
Konon ada subsidy, dah tu charge mahal tahap dewa pasaipa??!!!! Tak da duit la tu, nak bayar hutang Wan Emdibi lahanat la tu.
Way overdue proposal.
UOA’s kencana square,Mah Sing’s Icon City and Suezcap’s KL Gateway are adding unnecessary additional traffic to the federal highway. We are catching up to Jakarta level in no time if BRT is delayed.
Get rid of emergency lanes.
Just implement quickly.
I support more public transport options.
Some people complain that the current BRT is expensive. What are you comparing the price to? Aside from the motorcycle which is cheaper but has a much higher risk associated with it, I can’t imagine taxi or cars being alternatives.
Reduce jam on FH? We, the rakyat, suppork! Oh wai…
Building on top parallel to FH? That means the fast lanes along the whole stretch is closed?!
No way! Then it be more jam than before! We, the rakyat, bantah!
Somemore this is idea from Gov. Lagi mesti bantah kau-kau!
I wish to propose using wireless tram. Space require is only a small 2 lines track. Could be cost effective. Any expert in this field
was thinking the same..but,
tram requires more space, of which federal route suffers from. brt is independent on rail, hence more flexible.
i think this project will donate to LTL personal account.
We acknowledged ourselves that Federal Highway is a busy highway because it is centrally connected to several traffic convergences and has always provides an easy connection to Kuala Lumpur Central Business District since the 1970s. The growth of car trips in Klang Valley will continue if no measure is taken by the Government.
The possible impact to car traffic was illustrated by comparing traffic volume between scenarios without BRT and with BRT in my master thesis in 2008. Traffic modelling imitates human behaviour and senses the bottlenecks and also route avoidances. Firstly, the model identifies bottlenecks on the highway where it is usually located near road intersection which converges with Federal Highway. This is where most people travel between home and office every day. Secondly, traffic modelling with the system showed that a BRT model can lessen traffic volume on the highway and smoothen the bottlenecks. Read more here https://goo.gl/pidJ1d
I would say make the emergency lane shared between brt and police ambulance etc with several side stops. 2 lane for brt in the middle should be enough to cater for these emergency vehicles once in awhile.