[Nuffnang Malaysia] Speak Up: Public transport

When I receive an email from Nuffnang Malaysia about a contest on "Speak Up Malaysia", the first thing that came to my mind was Malaysia's public transportation! Recently when I started taking the public transport again (every now and then), my experience with this facility has proven to be from bad to worst. The "sardines" encounter is something that has been said time and again but has never really been solved. I do wonder whether I can live to see that Malaysia's public transportation will actually rise to another level - for the sake of all citizens.

If I had the money, I would get my personal car. However, looking at the number of cars on the road, I do think twice about getting another one too. I believe many people are facing this same issue as I have every single day. I hope that Malaysia will improve in their public transportation services. The question is will our voices be heard? Will my voice be heard?

I hope this MMS is clear enough to voice my opinion!

Cheeck out my previous post about my experience with the public transport here:
Post 1
Post 2

Public transport... some experiences... part II

Sardines @ 5.45pm in the train... but super-packed sardines @ 6.15pm! Just a mere difference of 30 minutes caused the train to be super-duper packed with people! Yesterday was one typical example of this sardines encounter!

Not just in the train or bus, but it happened also at the bus stop and train station! The bus that I board would normally come about 5.15pm. I leave my office at 5.05... wait a little while till about 5.15 and i'll reach Mid Valley by about 5.45.... board the train about 5.50 - 6 and reach Kajang station by 6.30. This is the perfect timing... IF and ONLY IF everything goes according to schedule.

Yesterday, the bus came later than usual. I saw the "usual" guys waiting at the bus stop so I knew I did not miss it. After some 10 minutes, I started counting the heads (nothing else better to do :p)... I counted 15 guys, and 1 lady (that's me!). Minutes later, there were 17... 21... 23 guys... waiting for the bus! It was a crowded bus stop i'd say! Most of them are non-Malaysians. They probably off work between 5 - 5.30. The bus only arrived minutes after 5.30. I reached Mid Valley station about 6. The train arrived at 6.15... it was already super packed! My experience in the train? Sardines... sardines... sardines... If you go to the supermarket to buy a can of sardines called "KTM", i'd say it's very very worth it! (doh!)

Also, just to add some more spices to this not-so-good experience... the train station has got some ticket machines and human counter. 3 human counters, but ONLY 1 is OPEN.... at the very PEAK hour! Oh boy... what else can I say?

Well, upon sharing all the not-so-good experience using public transport, I do recall some not-so-bad experiences too.

Surely, when everything goes as scheduled, I'll go back with a smile on my face. I'll reach home before the sun goes down. There was even once that I accidentally took an express train that goes from Mid Valley - Bdr Tasik Selatan - Kajang. The whole journey only took about 20-25 minutes! For that, I have to give some credits to KTM. Of course, it would definitely be better if they had more coaches for all the trains. Else, it's nothing but sardines.... sardines... sardines...

Public transport... some experiences...

What can I say about Malaysia's public transportation? x-|

Let's recall back my experience in the past 2+ weeks...

Experience #1 (going to work):
Reached Kajang KTM before 6.30am. Waiting time was alright. The train came, I got into the train and reached KL Sentral about 7.20am. People were all queeing at different ticketing booth to buy tickets to board the different trains/buses. It looked pretty different from the last time I came. Much much busy now! I went out towards the road that leads to PJ to take a bus over to PJ. Lo and behold, some construction was going on between Sentral station and the bus stop... I couldnt find the road that leads to the bus stop. I saw many people walking towards somewhere, so I just followed the crowd... Later on, I found out that they were walking towards a queeu to the buses going down KL. So, instead of looking for the bus stop to board the bus to PJ, I decided to take the LRT and drop myself at University station to take the bus to PJ from there. To cut the story short, I reached office about 8.40am, ie more than 2 hours journey to work that morning.

Experience #2 (going home from work):
On the same day, I intended to take a Rapid KL bus to Mid Valley and take the train from there to Kajang. Unfortunately, there was no Rapid KL bus from 6.30pm-7pm that day. Two other Metro buses came and gone, and so finally I went up the 3rd Metro bus as it was getting late and I didnt want to wait any longer. Metro bus doesnt passby Mid Valley, so it's more of a hassle if I need to take the train interchange. To make matter worst, this particular bus driver drove super duper slow. He was on the line with his manager (i think), reporting to him every other buses he saw along the way. He sounded like he was competing with Rapid KL buses, trying to kill time and take as many passengers as he could. It was really getting dark so I decided to stop at Bangsar and took the LRT interchange to go to Sentral and from Sentral, I took the KTM to go back to Kajang... so I reached home almost 9pm that night. Sob Sob... :'(

So what can I say about Malaysia's public transportation (and traffic)?
1. Buses dont come on schedule! Same goes with the train at times!
2. Some bus drivers are totally a pain (like above), as they do what they like and only waste other people's time... :(
3. LRT/KTM must either increase their schedule frequency OR increase their coaches. There are just too many people "trying to" or "hoping to" rely on them, causing sardines effect everyday... but nope, they're not doing anything about it. How sad...
4. Traffic jams are horrendous! This applies whether u take the bus... the cab... or you're driving your own car. The traffic jams in Klang Valley is just super duper bad! Sigh...

Would anyone do anything about this?

p/s - I used to take the public transport from Setapak to KL to PJ when I was a college student some years ago. The only reason why I managed to get around with public transport this time was due to that. Otherwise, I would dread taking this means of transportation as the system here is just so unfriendly for people in general!