Gov't Urged To Review Public Transport Policy, Expand Dedicated Bus Lanes

KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 (Bernama) -- The government has been urged to review its public transport policy, including expanding dedicated bus lanes and improving service efficiency, to encourage more people to switch to public transportation.

Mara Liner Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Wan Md Hazlin Agyl said the move is important to reduce traffic congestion while helping the public save on daily expenses, including parking and fuel costs.

According to him, although the government provides fuel subsidies to public bus operators and offers free bus services such as Smart Selangor Bus and GoKL Bus, the use of public transport has yet to be fully optimised due to issues involving service availability and long travel times caused by traffic congestion.

“The government provides fuel subsidies to public bus operators and offers free buses such as Smart Selangor Bus, GoKL Bus and others, but people are still reluctant to use buses because we do not take care of the availability of our bus services.

“A journey that should take 20 minutes can stretch to as long as one and a half hours due to traffic congestion and the need for buses to make multiple stops,” he said while serving as a panellist at the National Roundtable Discussion Programme (Rimbun 2.0) at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL) here today.

In this regard, he proposed the introduction of dedicated bus lanes to facilitate smoother public transport movement, shorten travel time and reduce the number of private vehicles on the road, particularly in major cities.

At the same time, Wan Md Hazlin also proposed strengthening the work-from-home (WFH) approach as a supporting measure to reduce the country’s fuel consumption.

-- BERNAMA