Sabre 2/3rd Tiger v3

RapidKL city shuttle buses are starting to make their presence felt in KL city centre. If not by number of passengers, at least by number of buses on the road in the city centre. Especially, the area around RapidKL’s Medan Pasar city hub, along J Hang Kasturi, near Central Market. They are also prominent at RapidKL’s Taman Maluri hub, adjacent to RapidKL’s Ampang line station (formerly known as Star LRT).

• Making their presence felt – The Star Metro Central – 17 Jan 2006 – “There are more Rapid KL buses in the streets of Kuala Lumpur … Although it is weird to see the brand new buses running with only a few passengers”
• Mixed response to shuttle service – The Star Metro Central – 17 Jan 2006 – “Yes, It’s true! You only have to wait five minutes to catch the Rapid KL’s City Shuttle service plying the Titiwangsa, Maluri, KLCC, Medan Pasar and KL Sentral hubs in Kuala Lumpur.”

RapidKL have launched a new service called City Shuttle, serving 15 routes and 5 hubs with 138 buses. They promised 5 minutes frequency buses. So you can hop on and hop off a bus anywhere within KL City area bounded by Jalan Tun Razak for just RM2 per day. Isn’t that a good bargain? I did try them out last Sunday when it was free.

• Beginning their rounds – The Star Metro Central 14 Jan 2006 – “Commuters will only need to wait for five minutes for the shuttle buses that will run between five hubs – KL Sentral, Titiwangsa, Maluri, KLCC and Medan Pasar … There are 15 City Shuttle routes serving major roads in the city centre … They will have to pay RM2 for a daily pass that allows them to hop on and off buses for the entire day.”
• Better bus service with city shuttle – The Star Metro Central 13 Jan 2006 – “… the City Shuttle Service was part of Rapid KL’s efforts to provide an integrated public service system within the city and the Klang Valley … would be complemented with the introduction of the services of the Trunk-Line and LocalShuttle services by June.”
• RapidKL promises lower bus fares, faster rides – New Straits Times 9 Jan 2006 – “Commuters can expect to save up to a third on return bus fares, and cut travel time by the same amount, said [RapidKL] … There is a catch: Commuters may have to change buses more often once the Klang Valley’s transport services are fully integrated five months from now. The trade-off will benefit them … ‘To provide better service, we have cut the routes into three sections — city centre, local shuttle and trunk line,’ said Westra [RapidKL's CEO] at a briefing today.”
• RapidKL’s City Shuttle Detailed Maps – includes links (click on the route numbers) to stops details for each route. The same info is on their free single sheet folded brochures.

Leong She-Li on 22 May 2005 reported in The Star regarding Pradonet “Going places with ticketing system”. It’s an interesting look at this small company that implemented the common ticketing system for Touch’nGo (TnG) at ERL, KTM and Monorail. Though the system has yet to run operationally, pending commercial issues between Rangkaian Segar (TnG operator) and the transport companies (ref my earlier blog). Excerpts …

  LISTEN to Pradonet Sdn Bhd chief executive director Mohd Azman Nasir talk about the challenges he faced setting up his business and you would think that he was dealing with either state secrets or something illegal …
  In 2002, Azman together with two others decided to try and break the tight grip a small group of foreign companies had over the Malaysian market …
  â€œWe had to go back to the supplier for every little thing, sometimes even for something as simple as changing the fare structure. That has cost and time implications,â€? he explains …
  There were also cases where certain parts were no longer manufactured, leaving the operators in a lurch especially when they wanted to open new stations or add new machines for existing stations …
  With local providers, he says, the above problems will more or less disappear …
  â€œI guess there is always some risk involved when you move away from a well-known brand and many people are not willing to take such risks,â€? says Azman, whose big break came with the government’s push for a common ticket for all public transport systems in the Klang Valley.
  The project will allow Touch ‘n Go cards to be used to pay fares for the KTM Komuter, monorail, light rail transit (LRT), Express Rail Link and, ultimately, the buses.
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