BusTalk

[thaitransit]

In early April 2010 while visiting friends in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I had a few days spare to photograph the various types of mass transport around Kuala Lumpur. This was my 1st visit to Kuala Lumpur in 6 years and my some things had changed in the city some better some worse.

A background on the Rapid KL bus system and its buses.

Rapid KL began with the take over of Intrakota and Cityliner metro bus companies and their routes in 2004. As rapid KL is partly controlled by the government it allowed them to take over a lot of the KL and Selangor bus system.

Prior to the Rapid KL bus system was a network poorly regulated main road only bus routes that operated via the city centre as city direct routes. These services were rather unreliable and drivers known for dangerous driving habits. Buses also had to compete for passengers as they operated on a commission basis for the driver and ticket guy. This encouraged speeding and the taking of shortcuts off route. A few of these companies remain today but at least are not the only way to get around.

Over the next couple of years Rapid KL redesigned the entire bus system the new system replaced a lot of the former city direct bus routes with new a system consisting of 3 different types of services. The three different types of bus services are “Bandar” inner city shuttle buses, “Utama” Longer distance main line routes from suburbs to the inner city and“Tempatan” Station shuttles and local feeder buses. In addition a small number of longer distance express bus routes from areas such as Klang in Selangor were introduced later to speed up travel times these buses are marked as “ Ekspres” in Malay.

A new 4 zone ticket system was introduced for the Rapid KL bus system at the time of the bus route and service changes around the city. The buses operate using an exact fare cash system which is a pain if you don't have small notes. However a number of different monthly bus passes are available for regular users. Also some of these bus passes now include access to the rail system on a multi modal basis.

However no such single or return multi modal fares exist. Furthermore the “Touch n Go” smartcards are accepted on the buses but cannot be purchased or topped up on board. Also the “Touch n Go” smartcards are only sold at a small number of LRT stations. These smartcards were never intend for mass transit use but instead for electronic tolling on KL's expressway network.

The Rapid KL bus fare structure is as follows:

Bandar and Tempatan buses operate on a flat fare basis of RM 1 per single trip.

Ekspres buses operate on a flat fare basis of RM 3.80 these are considered premium routes.

Utama buses operate on a zonal fare basis per single trip as outline below:

Zone 1: RM 1.00
Zone 2: RM 1.90
Zone 3: RM 2.50
Zone 4: RM 3.00

The fare depends on how many zones you travel through. Basically the further from the city you go the more you pay for your trip. There are limited concession fares for students and older residents that are basically a 50% discount on all of the above fares on the Rapid KL system.

The Rapid KL bus services operate from approximately 5am to 11pm 7 days a week. The frequency of buses on this rather new bus system is sporadic at best. This is one of the biggest complaints of the Rapid KL bus system are the unreliable bus frequencies even at peak times. Heance the nickname “Slow KL”. Also for such a major city in Asia the Rapid KL buses operate at some of the lowest bus frequencies in Asia. With most routes operating only every 20 to 30 minutes throughout the day. Its not uncommon to wait up to 90 minutes for a bus to show up in suburban areas of KL. In areas where a large number of rapid KL bus routes operate along a road together bus frequencies for the combined corridor can be quite good with headways of every few minutes. However this really only occurs in the inner city areas of Kuala Lumpur.

The network coverage of the Rapid KL bus system is actually very good for south east Asian cities as they operate full size metro buses into housing areas and industrial areas rather than just along the main roads. This is one of the best changes that Rapid KL introduced as it got the buses much closer to peoples homes and workplaces than the old bus system. Despite this only around 16% of trips are made on mass transit today in Kuala Lumpur.

The capacity of the Rapid KL bus system is limited at best. There are far too few buses to cover the network at a useful working frequency. Off peak bus usage is low due to long waits and unreliability. During peak the system cannot cope with the demand and extreme overcrowding is the norm on most routes. To make matters worse breakdowns are common as maintenance is not great even on the newer buses.

One of the other problems with the Rapid KL bus system is the lack of accurate bus stop and interchange information regarding routes and frequencies. This makes it very hard to work out where the buses actually go and how long the trips take. For new users and tourists its a very complex bus system and in some aspects harder to use than the old system.

Now onto the photographs and videos of the Rapid KL buses taken around Kuala Lumpur.

21. This is a general view of Rapid KL's Maluri bus depot and its parked buses looking towards the LRT station and government apartment complex.



33. This is an image of a Rapid KL bus operating on Route U224: Terminal Jalan Sultan Mohamad - Taman Dato Senu via Bandar Baru Sentul. Taken as it travelled north along Jalan Raja Laut. Bus type unknown.



45. This is an image or a Rapid KL bus operating on Route U23: Sogo via Aia - Taman Melawati via Jalan Enggang. Taken as it was heading south along Jalan TAR. Bus number unknown. Bus type Volvo B7RLE. Note low floor bus.



46. This is an image of a Rapid KL bus operating on Route U12. Taken as it was heading south along Jalan TAR. Bus number unknown. Bus type unknown.



52. This is a shot of Rapid KL bus number I024 operating Route T231: Terminal PUTRA LRT - Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA). Taken while laying over at Terminal Putra (Gombak). Bus type Iveco Turbocity.



53. This a general view showing two Rapid KL buses laying over at terminal PUTRA in Gombak. Bus numbers unknown. Bus type unknown.



57. This is a shot of Rapid KL bus number I105 operating on Route T301: Wangsa Maju LRT - Taman Permata. Taken while it waits for passengers at Wangsa Maju LRT station. Bus type Iveco Turbocity.



59. This is a shot of a Rapid KL bus operating on Route U62: Klang - Sunway Pyramid. Taken as it picks up passengers at Carrefour Subang Jaya. Bus number unknown. Bus type unknown.



60. This is an image of a Rapid KL bus operating on Route U23. Taken as it was picking up passengers at SOGO bus terminal. Bus number unknown. Bus type Volvo B7RLE. These Volvo buses are the only low floor buses in KL and are used on very few routes.



65. This is an image of a Rapid KL bus operating on Route U5: Lebuh Ampang - Taman Melati LRT via Jalan Gombak. Taken as it was picking up passengers at SOGO bus terminal. Bus type unknown. Bus number unknown.



If you want to see more images and videos of Rapid KL buses please visit:

http://thaitransit-international.blogspot.com/2010/05/kuala-lumpur-transit-system-rapid-kl.html

I hope you have enjoyed this topic and all the interesting pictures and information. If you have time please leave some friendly comments about what you have seen below.

[Mr. Linsky]

I always have time to compliment a member for a 'quality' post and the Kuala Lumur presentation above certainly meets that criterion.

Quite and interesting assortment of colorful liveries and models and certainly the equal to anything we have here in the states.

Keep them coming and thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[timecruncher]

Nice-looking equipment. Are the carriers private, but subsidized there? Privatization is so prevalent overseas, especially in the UK and Orient.

timecruncher

[thaitransit]

Rapid KL is a semi govt company that controls Metro bus, Monorail and Metro rail services in KL. It is partly owned by the Malaysian govt and does get a part subsidy from the govt for capital infrastructure and staffing as i understand it but running costs are paid out of ticket revenue.

Being part govt controlled it has a guarantee of service continuity i.e the government will back it up in case of financial problems. usage is around 17% of all trips are by Mass transit in KL however this is 3 times lower than the regional average of 50 to 60 %.

KL also operates 100% private buses which are only weakly regulated they are METROBUS and a few other small companies that existed before Rapid KL and still operated to day and i will post about them in the coming weeks.