Ernest is: on transit! 🚌🚇🚅

It’s always worth reaching our local transit agency and ask if they’re able to listen in on feedback since they rely a lot on such for improving operations

Since there was no defined topic at mind, I had to try and cover as much bases as possible to ask as many diverse questions as I can

Land acquisition so it’s all quiet

Afaik tenders haven’t went out yet

‪Update: the event is over; am looking through my notes to see what do to from here‬

There is a private closed door briefing and Q&A session with media and transit enthusiasts about the state of operations of RapidKL’s rail and bus ops

Photo of front of Prasarana headquarters, head of RapidKL operations

Open to questions for the next 3 hours about anything RapidKL (rail, bus, BRT, DRT etc) as I will attempt to ask them soon

Will try my best to raise them but whether if I can reveal what they say is another question…

On bus service 420 with plate number WVN5571 with bus RAPID 631 also on bus service 420

Bus RAPID 631 missing from the online Kiosk app when viewing bus service 420

For a bus that’s newly introduced by RapidKL, it’s very odd that RAPID 631 has no ability to be tracked by GPS via the Kiosk online web app

Worse is that RapidKL seems to have no control over bus bunching, making buses driving too close to each other and screwing the frequency

RapidKL service status board with the pictogram for the Kelana Jaya Line missing

There is no war on the Kelana Jaya Line

Worse for T807 is that the bus service now stops at the far ends of the Dataran Ara commercial area, which requires crossing 5 lanes worth of roads and has no bus shelter or trees to wait the buses for

It is likely that RapidKL had not consulted local councils or did the changes in a snap as a new bus shelter built by PJ city council is abandoned by bus service T807 just after a year of building it

Imagine how many more new bus shelters are now useless due to the bus cuts

A bus service to other MRT station poster at Bugis MRT in Singapore

A bus service to other stations poster at KLCC LRT bus stop in Kuala Lumpur

With the rate of breakdowns lately, RapidKL needs to publicise a list of alternative bus services to other LRT/MRT stations to get people moving to other places rather than aimlessly waiting for the next shuttle train or bus bridging service

More details about 191 and my comments about the bus cuts in Segambut:

170 and 201 is getting the extension treatment 191 wished it got

Despite this, it’s unclear what is RapidKL’s direction for bus network reform as they’re releasing bus updates sporadically instead of being transparent about their plans

Perhaps the greatest irony in RapidKL’s push for DRT is that many zones compete with fixed route buses but there are places, such as Putrajaya Wetlands, remain a dead zone for DRT

Instead of attracting new riders, most DRTs are likely cannibalising from existing bus riders

I would’ve wanted to do a story about the last day of operations for BET17, among the last legacy by SPAD/LPTC as part of the Bus Network Revamp, but in classic RapidKL fashion, the bus left me without stopping even as I was at a bus stop, albeit unmarked

While RapidKL is going trigger happy to cut bus services to turn them into DRT vans, Singapore instead looks to increase new bus services, even going as far to introduce express variants of feeder buses into LRT and MRT stations, which is what we should look into instead:

Putrajaya’s chapter with trackless trams has come to an end after they’re dissuaded by the investment of 200 million MYR over 10 years

While Putrajaya Corp not investing in gadgetbahns is welcomed, one wonders what price is Putrajaya willing to pay for, if any exists

You could consider signing the petition or even financial support to the work that I do:

Funding our efforts would also bring a significant change to what we can do to keep the fight on:

Additionally, advocacy group Transit MY is running a survey on passenger experience using Rapid On-Demand, which they seek for more respondents to be able to understand the impact of DRT services from people that use them:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Sign the petition here: c.org/BRwLS4RddC

RapidKL and the gov thinks that DRT is good for you and cities while cutting bus routes to fund the vans

If you had been affected by the bus cuts or want to see more buses instead of DRT vans, I would encourage you to sign the petition in reply to show your opposition in numbers

Not less than a month after gutting 19 bus routes, RapidKL goes on to cut even more bus routes - now targeting long-distance buses like 506 between 1U and Putrajaya and 708 between Klang and Sunway Pyramid without any consultation of the riders that rely on them:

Never understood the need for an LED destination display for a train that only has two stops

…if we don't speak up about the bus cuts that are happening nearby, what will stop them from cutting more? (12/12)

And we have the means to change this! I am currently working on printing physical version of the bus information amendments, and any support or donation will go a long way to support my work It's now more important than ever to fight for our bus routes because… (11/12)

Despite the incessant push by RapidKL to utilise DRT as the core solution for first & last KM connectivity, nothing can deny the fact that the issue has, and always been, a geometric issue that no DRT will solve because the service gets worse with more people using it: (10/12)

Throughout the month of January, I was observing and seeing if RapidKL had took any means of providing any recourse for the changes to the bus network, but it seems that they are willing to shove down changes without consulting the community as fast as they can: (9/12)

And the holdouts of MRT1 phase 1, when the line then had terminated at Semantan, has come to meet its end the two feeder bus routes connecting the city and KL Sentral terminated: (8/12)

The means of network planning seems to be inconsistent and incoherent, as Taman Equine had seen bus amendments as recent as late last year with 541 being shifted to serve the MRT station that could very well cover the loss of T542: (7/12)

A dramatic makeover happened in Segambut, where four bus services, including a trunk bus route (the last of such cut occurred was during COVID-19) was removed, creating a hole that is only served by DRT and making travel more expensive without MY50 covering this cost: (6/12)