Rapid Penang is hoping a new strategy in commuting will help reduce traffic congestion by between 20% and 40% in high density areas in the state. The plan is expected to be launched within the next two months pending approval from the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), according to a report by The Sun Daily.
Rapid Penang chief operating officer Mohd Azmi Abdullah said the strategy uses the same approach as the spoke-hub distribution model, where smaller feeder buses will gather passengers from various points in one locality hub before dropping them off at a centralised bus stop.
From there, a fleet of bigger buses will pick up the passengers in stages before driving to the final interchange stop, which is the main public bus terminal located in Komtar. This approach, Azmi explained, would help lower the frequency of all public buses travelling into town during peak hours.
“If there are no passengers at that juncture, the buses will not ply the route. The main pick up would be before, during and after office hours,” he said. Rapid Penang would also be able to free up space on congested roads in town as there would be a bigger load of passengers aboard its larger buses.
The spoke-hub method’s success in other countries served as the inspiration for Rapid Penang to try it out in the state, and has been known to improve logistical needs in the aviation and shipping industry. A pilot programme will first be introduced in April at Air Itam, which is notorious for its traffic crawls and narrow roads.
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“If there are no passengers at that juncture, the buses will not ply the route.”
Surely this will adversely affect those passengers waiting at stops further along the route?
e.g. If there’s a hub at Teluk Bahang (Terminal) and no passengers, then people waiting in Batu Ferringhi, Tanjung Bunga etc will have no service.
I’m used to be a regular user of Rapid Penang on their 101 route. I gave up as by the time I got off the bus, I was also squashed in a corner.
The double decker buses failed because it took too long for passengers to disembark from the top deck (my opinion) which leads onto my next problem with Rapid Penang. Some bus stops are so close to one another. Bus stops should be at least 1km apart.
Spoke Hub = Bus Mini.. Took a long time to get rid of them and now they see why its needed. Last mile joirney has always been Malaysia’s biggest problem.
spoke – hub approach is more efficient and easier to adjust frequency of trip in each locality / hub. current rapid penang approach is flawed just like it’s predecessors (yellow bus, hin bus and others) where single bus travel the whole span of bayan lepas to komtar and jetty. the longer the journey the larger is the uncertainty of arrival time. so must keep it short.
moreover if you observe (experience it yourself), bus load peak at several location along the long route. people tend to hop out in larger amount at certain location only. this is sign of route too long.
The same model used when rapidkl way back in 2006.. and it failed due to people don’t want to change..
Now what time dy, take Uber la
https://paultan.org/2018/02/19/uber-set-to-sell-its-southeast-asian-division-to-grab/
As even Phuket is now getting a LRT / Tram soon, it’s high time for Penang to think about something other than busses when it comes to public transport…
Not practical because Malaysian bus passengers are mostly lazy, they just want to board the bus an sleep all the way to their destination. Don’t want to go down and take another bus.