Rapid Bus – which provides bus services in Klang Valley, Selangor, Penang, Pahang and Perak – is now restructuring its bus routes to optimise resources and assets, following the challenges brought about by Covid-19. The move will be done in stages and any changes to bus routes will be communicated to passengers, the company said in a statement released yesterday.
The Prasarana subsidiary operates Rapid KL buses, LRT and MRT feeder buses, the BRT in Sunway, Rapid Penang, Rapid Kuantan and Rapid Kamunting bus services. Last year, it had over 400,000 riders a day. However, some routes have seen a sharp reduction in ridership.
“The total number of bus passengers for all Rapid Bus routes have dropped from around 429,000 a day before the movement control order (MCO) in March 2020 to around 180,000 passengers a day, which is a reduction of over 58%. Rapid Bus assures customers that alternative journeys will be provided for every change,” it said in the statement.
“Like other public transport operators, Rapid Bus is not immune from the impact of Covid-19, which has sharply reduced ridership and receipts. Therefore, one initiative is to re-evaluate overall route operations, especially routes that have too low ridership. We stress that proper research will be done before any decision is made,” the statement added.
It’s a fair and flexible move by Rapid Bus. Expect to see some changes in bus routes, with some unpopular ones scrapped.
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half of drivers laid off?
Most of them are trained by Rapid own, so they would rather not release after investing so much into them. My guess the drivers would be put on furlough until the country rides out this pandemic.