Rapid KL City Shuttle

A complain I retrieved from Starblog, it seems our buse drivers still retain their bad habits despite new buses and new coats of paint on their buses :bash:

I agree with Selvandran that bus drivers in Malaysia tend to wait until 30 minutes for the bus to get full, it makes me mad when they do that. The Putraline feeder bus drivers always do that in Wangsa Maju....!


Not So Rapid After All- RAPIDKL - Day 2
Posted by: selvandaran

Day 2: The trouble with RapidKL

Hoping for the best but we Malaysian are always served with less then average service, I know this less then average service best describes RapidKL. Without any choice, since I got the Monthly Travel Card, I had to wait for the RapidKL bus. At KLCC waiting for the 114 bus for almost 30 minutes (so much for the advertised 5 minute intervals), the worst thing was another 114 was tailing the 1st one, makes me wonder....is there any planning done to ensure the smooth flow of bus. Then I reached Maluri and from there boarded another bus to Leisure Mall- Tmn Segar. While in Tmn Segar bus station I waited for about 15 minutes and at last the bus came and I gladly boarded that bus hoping to reach home in about 10-15 minute but to my dismay.... the driver park the bus there and went for a walk, came back after 10 minute and just waited for more people to board the bus, all in all it took us 20 minute just waiting, while all the previous Metrobus and SJ bus was passing by. How I wish I didn't take the Monthly Travel Card...

That was yesterday, again hoping that the RapidKL service will be better this morning... again disappointed... I had to wait from 5.50am to 6.50am - THAT IS ONE HOUR, but the advertised interval in 15 minutes, not sure what translation that the folks in RapidKL is using that 15 minutes could some how mean 1 hour to them. Well I thought that the RapidKL bus service is suppose to start at 6am but now it seem to start at 7.00am... another amazing discovery is, now RapidKL drivers can park their bus and wait... their reason not mush passenger in the bus, this waiting can last up to 30 minutes. So this morning all my schedule got ruin, I start work at 7am but reached my office at about 8.00am.... can you imagine it took me 2 hours to reach my office and I'm not staying in Seremban. One whole hour wasted.... so much for productivity.... if everyday I waste one hour multiply by 20 days, equals to 20 hour per month that is only for one person, imagine if this happens for 1000 individual (1000 x 20= 20,000hours per month = such a waste of productivity) and without including all the stress.

I hope that the goverment will take mesure to ensure that a company that is own by the goverment is providing good quality service, no point if there's new buses and the service is bad.

There's plan for each housing area to form a club/ association, so that we could voice out our grudges and take action if the situation becomes worst.

Metrobus and SJ bus, if I may suggest, please come out with your own Monthly travel card and some value-added initiatives.

Personally, it would have been better for the government to just invest in the current bus companies rather then having it's own public transportation company. People would have so much happier if the efficiency of the previous Intrakota and Cityliner and the current Metrobus and SJ bus could have been enhance. Again RapidKL you are not so Rapid after all... wanna change name... how about Not-So-Rapid. Just the thought of tomorrow morning makes me sigh and tired... how much I dread the thought of waiting for the RapidKL bus. One thing for sure I'm not going to get the Monthly Travel Card anymore. Please do something about this....

http://blog.thestar.com.my/default.asp?d=7/5/2006
(This blogger have posts about RapidKL service, all of them bad, I gather the city-suburb bus service is bad)

Hi,

Just wanna make short report on the Rapid KL feeder service in Wangsa Maju.I used the feeder bus servive and the Kelana Jaya Line for a short visit to KLCC for the first time since returning from OZ last Monday.

Firstly,the bus stop.Rapid KL has finally placed a rudimentary information post with rudimentary information about the bus routes.The post was not helpful coz since it's printed,the rain I believe damaged the information sheet,Rapid KL should printed the routes on plastic sheets or at least laminate the printed bus route info sheet.Anyway,I waited for exactly 10 minutes and the bus came.The feeder bus seems to be the old city buses and probably transferred to the local bus services.Anyway,the bus was a bit better than the dilapidated Putraline buses.The Touch n Go reader,disappointingly,was damaged and I had to buy the manual ticket.The local bus ticket could be used until midnight,and only costs RM1,I like this new ticketing system.What I really dislike about the feeder bus is that the driver stops the bus in the middle of the oad rather than park close to the bus stop,being used to Adelaide's excellent bus drivers attitude,this attitute of the Malaysian bus driver disgust me.

Second Kelana Jaya Line Wangsa Maju station.The stations seems OK,abit dirty with signs of tear and wear very evident.The Wangsa Maju station is among the most utilized station in KL.3 of the ticket machines were out of service while the remaining ones would not accept paper money.Tried to reload my touch n go but the service was OFF LINE,I know this coz the person behind the counter just geleng her head rather than speak to me,hmm...did not know Rapid KL hire mute personnel :bash: .

Thirdly,on the LRT. The first thing I notice boarding the LRT was the extremely dilapidated condition of the LRT floors whic were flaking and peeling.It was an eyesore and I keep looking at the floor with disgust.The aircond were also dripping with condensed water and trickled on me.

Fourthly,the KLCC station. The lights were strangely dimmed.Perhaps I noticed this coz I am used to the brightly lit metro stations in Adelaide.I felt really uncomfortable in the dim light. The escalator was very slow,people crowded at the foot of the escalator.Meanwhile,the rubbish bins in the station were so dirty and stained with black marks,they were a real ayesore.When I returned to the station,I face the same problem when trying to use the ticketing machines.There were a couple of Mat Salleh who tried unsuccessfuly to buy a ticket from these machines,they looked frustrayed and eventually joined the long queue for the manual ticket.I was lucky to have enough change.

Fifthly,back at the Wangsa Maju station.The feeder bus fortunately just arrived and I managed to get a swift ride back to section 5 Wangsa Maju.I believed I rode a different bus than the first bus,this bus seems more noisy and I can smell petrol inside the bus.I got an astmatic attack for the first time in several months in that bus!!!!Don't worry,I had my inhaler with me.

Observation
-bus ticketing improved(the only obvious improvement)
-feeder bus abit OK than before,but still dirty and bad driver attitude.
-Stations look dirty and need refurbishment.
-Underground station at KLCC poorly lit.
-Escalator so slow,I noticed that escalators at metro stations in Adelaide and Melboure are alot faster.
-Interiors of LRT especially the rubber coated floors look extremely dilapidated,probably due to the large number of people using it everyday.

Conclusion
Public tranport in KL is still in bad condition.Not much improvement since I returned.It has gotten worse in terms of the infrastructure and the conditions of the buses and LRTs but I believe the frequency of the Wangsa Maju local bus has improved slightly,not sure about other areas. IMO.:nuts:

Maybe we could use a mascot like our friends down south :nuts: to promote public transport :lol:


Captain SMRT

What will ours be?

Hang Ra Pid :lol: Mat Rapid...Nakhoda Rapid.... :banana: