The government is aiming to encourage a behavioural shift from private vehicles to public transport as part of its development structure for the country under the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK-12). Presently, the public transport modal share remains low (it was just 21% in 2018), with the general choice of mobility still very much centred around cars.
A number of reasons define why this remains so – with inadequate connectivity, lack of accessibility and patchy reliability of services, it’s no surprise to see people continuing to rely on private vehicles for their daily transport needs. Nowhere is this more telling than in the Klang Valley, despite the reach provided by the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT)) networks.
In this urban environment, the key to success (or traction) lies with seamless, accessible first- and last-mile connectivity, something that has been lacking. The government realises this, and says that continuous efforts will be carried out to improve these aspects in a bid to increase the ridership of public transport services.
To minimise waiting and travelling time, the frequency of feeder buses will be increased and the routes will be realigned, while e-hailing services will be integrated with the MRT/LRT network and other transport services.
Efforts to encourage the usage of alternative transportation for first- and last-mile connectivity will also be undertaken. The plan is to increase usage of micro-mobility vehicles and enhance pedestrian lanes in urban areas to encourage active mobility, and the infrastructure at primary public transportation nodes will also be upgraded to facilitate the integration of micro-mobility vehicles.
All good and fine when it comes, but reliance on the trusted is a hard thing to break, and so, to steer people towards looking at public transport as the primary choice, the 12th Plan also outlines the plan of introducing loading on private vehicles to prompt the shift away from their use, especially into city centre areas.
The plan mentions that collaboration between relevant authorities will be enhanced in ensuring effective enforcement of private vehicles entering city centres. How this will be managed was not detailed, but the possibility of a road pricing scheme (similar to the ERP in Singapore) cannot be discounted.
Also, measures such as limiting parking spaces and imposing higher parking charges in areas with good public transport connectivity will also be implemented in a bid to manage the inflow of private vehicles into city centres. As an additional carrot, unlimited passes for train and bus passengers will be extended to further encourage ridership.
In the intra-urban context, dynamic fares will be expanded for ETS services to encourage the usage of inter-city rail transport, where fares will be determined by market demand. Higher fares will be charged for last-minute purchases compared to planned journeys.
For rural areas, the RMK-12 outline suggests innovative and non-traditional public transport options will be considered. An alternative community-based public transport system that offers affordable services will be introduced, with one of the options being considered a ‘dial-a-ride system’, where a phone call-based system provides door-to-door service for people who do not have access to conventional public transport amenities.
The government says that it is also looking at addressing the lack of holistic travel demand management by getting everyone to “talk” to each other. How it plans to do so is by integrating different modes of transport under one coordinating platform. This will coordinate and optimise schedules, effectively minimising the waiting time between different modes.
The platform, which will incorporate the sharing of real time data among public transport operators to ensure efficiency, will also develop an integrated and reliable journey planner.
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Just make public transportation free for all…
Our LRT/MRT are planned haphazardly.We still need grab or cars to go to the stations.They are not like what we see in London or Singapore or Hong Kong.
From my house(no bus service) to melati LRT station,it costs me Rm13 using Grab one way.Then pay LRT fares somemore…Even if I carpool,we still need a car.
When you plan a defective LRT network,dont expect people to take it.They need alternatives.
That is because when planners put stations up at ideal catchment spots, up comes the neighbourhood movements & SJWs & aspiring politicians & ur unker & grandma coming to protest and petition to the mass media & viral on social media and putting roadblocks on land acquisitions for stations & tracks, and real roadblocks to project sites, so much so that MRT Corp prefers to shift stations & line to far less ideal spots. Take Bandar Utama station for example, originally to straddle BU1 & BU2 making it easier for pedestrian use but end up moved above the highway with such a long walkway that you’d prefer to drive instead coz BU folks protested the original alignment. That is not planning haphazardly but protesting haphazardly that got us where we are today.
What are you talking about? SJWs? Aspiring politicians? The only people who protested are pro-car citizens who have valid concerns. Wrong concerns but still valid. Previous car-centric infrastructure has convinced them that the best choice is the car-centric one, influenced by the decades of previous car-centric roads. The average person doesn’t know about any other way to build a city other than cars. Instead of whining about “SJWs” on a forum, how about you actually spread people-centric infrastructure? Most progressive/ “SJW” countries are anti-car for environmental and sustainable reasons. That’s why most Nordic countries aren’t centered around cars. Ignorance is what made people protest. Don’t bitch about the protests. Bitch at the government for being pro-car.
concentrate on making make pubic transportation reliable and on time first. then people will take them.
Trains are on time really, just the buses are a bit fickle as it has to deal with other road users.
improve coverage first. otherwise how do the Gov think we can go to a mrt station? typically all train connects only one part of an area, eg kepong, those staying nearby segambut – kepong baru will still require cars to get to public transport. bus is literally non existent here. also, gov need to start implement strict rules to provide safety and encourage ppl to walk. nobody wants to walk bcoz of hooligans speeding in residential area, school area etc. and there is no sufficient pedestrian sidewalk.
Whoa… Settle this corona virus thing 1st lah…
Cart before the horse, this.
Disillusioned and disconnected politicians forgetting that other states have underdeveloped public transportation. They think the whole country lives in KL….even then, feeder services suck. I once tried the monorail for kicks and giggles. Took 5 trains before I could squeeze myself into a train.
Now say want End of life policy for cars.
Forcing people to buy new cars and scrap Thier perfectly good ones is more environmentally damaging.
public transport that links to nowhere. erratic buses.
Both which are not public transportation problems but rakyat issues.
memang salah rakyat kan, pasal beli rumah yang tak konvenient, syukur dulu i menteri bina byk tol highway
It’ll never happen.
If it happen, probably the next 40 years.
This will be one of the biggest joke they can make, mentioning better planning for cyclists but not pedestrians.
Polish the feeder bus network and stewarding first before implementing higher parking rates and so on.
It must be nice to say things like this on Tv and tries to wash away the previous mishaps eh.
Just ride a bike. U will get anywhere faster and easy to park. If you crash and die, no need to deal with problems anymore. Apa susah?
I think naturally people will take them if they are convenient enough.
It will be opening opportunity for Snatch thieves and Robbery.Not Safe for commuters.
I dont mind improving public transport but pls dont give us hard time before you really have improved the public transportation else this is just an excuse of ripping us with extra cost on parking or summons.
Making it inconvenience and penalty those for being the convenient people is not encouraging. How to improve public transportation? Make all you minister take public transportation like a normal ppl.
My wife and myself were consistent public transport users for 3 years since 2016. We take a MRT feeder bus at 6.10am to the nearest MRT stn, change MRT/LRT at Pasar Seni before ending at nearest LRT to our work place. We normally reach office at 7.05am. Its pretty predictable that early in the morning. We do the reverse when we return from work. We loved using the public transport and we get our steps this way too. However, during the Pandemic, we had to buy a 2nd car and stopped taking the public transport due to the fear of infection. Few of my office workers were in the same predicament too. The question is: will public transport pick up even after covid-19 has subside? I think since Covid-19 is endemic, public (those who can afford) will favour personal than public transport.