IS THE MRT being under-utilised? For one frustrated netizen who made a photo post on X which showed a cabin jam-packed with passengers, the answer was an obvious one.
He even lambasted a transport consultant who wrote in an article suggesting that the MRT transport is usually empty.
Every day I am reminded Malaysian media kept inviting this transport consultant who unironically argue the MRT is empty
Meanwhile me being packed like a sardine after missing the previous train because it was full: pic.twitter.com/gb33VXHtZx
— Slainthayer (@slainthayer) December 6, 2024
The transport consultant in question was Rosli Khan who shared his thoughts to Free Malaysia Today in an article titled, Our ‘MRT’ should omit the ‘R’, it’s always ‘MT.’
“Almost six years later, the twin objectives of increasing public transport usage and reducing the acute traffic congestion in the Klang Valley, have yet to be achieved,” said Rosli in the article dated June 8, 2023.
“I often take the MRT, and even during peak hours I notice that the carriages are less than 50% occupied,” he said.
Rosli added that he even once took a visual count of the number of passengers boarding and alighting at each of these stations, and the findings startled him.
Only six passengers alighted at Mutiara Damansara, while four boarded. At the Bandar Utama station, four passengers got off and three others came on board.
“At TTDI, where the residents’ association objected some years ago to the construction and placement of the MRT station there, only five passengers boarded, while two got off,” he said.
However, netizens at large where in disagreement with him. TarentoV3 claimed that even during the weekends, the MRT is usually full.
One netizen pointed out that perhaps the consultant was expecting the MRT to be packed at all times, and not only during peak hours.
He further said that ridership trend is increasing compared to the years before although it will not be significant until oil subsidy is removed.
Serai Jiran and P George shared that this is not the case in other developed countries, likely due to the higher cost of owning a vehicle.
Neighbouring Singapore was also brought into the equation, where its public transport infrastructure was compared to Malaysia.
Anuar Aziz added that the government is currently prioritising electric vehicles instead of public transport users.
“With Penang, Johor Bahru and Kuching looking to put in place their own versions of mass rapid transit systems, the government must ensure that expensive and painful lessons learned in planning, construction and running of the MRT in the Klang Valley are not repeated elsewhere,” Rosli continued.
He recommended that the government devise a proper planning office to consider how the MRT system can meet the fundamentals for an optimised service. —Dec 8, 2024
Main image: paultan.org
