Are you switching to public transport? Part 1

So KTM Komuter claims that more people are resorting to public transport because of the petrol price increase. Is that really so?

Well, immediately after the announcement of the petrol price hike last February, I have done a quick survey. In a room of 10 persons, including myself, consisting of mainly office workers and engineers from Klang Valley and Johor Bahru, I asked, “How many of you would like to switch to public transport after the petrol price increase?” Guess what is the percentage of saying “Yes”?

Zero! Yes, all of them, including myself unanimously said NO! When I asked them why? Most of them said our public transport system is lousy, expensive and all sorts of negative views about our public transport service.

To be frank, the omni bus service at KL city is as bad as it was 15 years ago, if not worse. I could easily provide you a list of sad things about our public transport in few pages in length.

Well, though I know that everyone of you who use public transport here are already familiar with all these problems, I think I am still obliged to tell you some of them:

Town Bus service
1. Not punctual and not frequent (no excuse ok, we know KL is jammed!)
2. Drivers are bad in attitude, provide wrong information, challenge customers
3. Bypass or skip planned route
4. Buses not stopping when waved or when the bell is rang
5. Switch from auto ticket dispensing system to manual again
6. Dirty, broken chairs, buzzer not working properly, doors not closed
7. Faulty or No air conditioning
8. Expensive – paying more than 1 ringgit even though it’s only 1 station away
9. Bus conductor does not change overpaid fare
10. Not using bus lane
11. Bus moves before passenger completely aboard or alight
12. Do not have dedicated bay for bus stop, blocking traffic thus causing congestion
13. No bus guide
14. Asking passenger to change coach on bus drivers’ own desire
15. Bus drivers stopping half way to do his personal matter
16. Stopping at bus stop too long to wait for passenger
17. Drive recklessly,
18. Buses not maintained frequently, often break down
19. Buses not stopping at the correct spot at bus station or bus stop
20. Drop off or pick up passengers in the middle of the road

Taxi service
1. Choosing customers
2. Not using meter
3. Always not available when called especially during peak hours
4. Choosing destination
5. Stop wherever they like such as by the road side
6. Using more roads to reach destinations
7. Modify meters
8. Rude taxi drivers
9. Drivers avoiding disabled passengers
10. Pumping petrol while leaving meter to run with passenger on board

LRT
1. Too crowded during peak hours
2. Certain coaches has no proper air conditioning
3. Very time consuming if you encounter breakdown of service

Just to name a few.