Consumer's Opinion on Malaysian's Public Transport Service

Public transport plays a vital role in providing a better quality of life to

citizen. In this era of development, public transport has become a necessity in
every country. A hike in population demands more complete transport system.
Public transport not only enlighten the burden of public but also ease the traffic
congestion. It is a crucial part of the solution nation development for economy,
tourism and also environmental challenge. The first public transport company in
Malaya was introduced by the British in 1935. After 80 years of development,
Malaysian urban transportation has developed in a rapid pace but still it needs a
high level of improvement. In this essay, consumers opinion on Malaysians
Public Transport service will be discussed based on few aspects which are
safety, fare, punctuality, accessibility and consumers friendly. The need for an
efficient and connected public transport system becomes ever more crucial as
Malaysia continues down the path of becoming a high-income nation. In spite of
the fact that the government has already invested in public transport over the
years, it is still languishing in a bottomless pit of train delays, erratic time
schedules, low quality buses, poor commuter numbers and congestion. The
provision of an efficient transportation system is thus needed to curb the
continual increase in private automobile use and promote shared mobility
fostering responsible citizenship.
Safety
Safety is the main concern for consumers while they take public transport.
A research done by Kamaruddin, R, et al. shows that the customer expectations
concern on PT services was safety (34.3%)Monorail, LRT and commuter make
good records of safety. Only some broke down were recorded and there is no
any record of death. However, long journey express bus should makes safety as
their priority and not speed. Numerous severe bus accident had been recorded
and the most severe bus accident which happen in year 2014 had claimed 37
lives. Some opt for commuter due to safety reason although commuter takes
longer time to reach the destination. Long-journey bus Genting Highlands. 2

bus drivers take turn to drive the bus. A research done by (researchers) shows
that consumers takes safety as their priority towards Malaysians Public
Transport. Besides that, some bus drivers tend to drive rudely. They break traffic
rules Drive rudely, overtaking, breaking traffic rules 3) Efforts taken. Records of
the Royal Malaysia Police showed zero road fatalities during the Ops Sikap 25
road safety operation last year while of the 6,917 cases of accidents reported in
the operation, only 32 cases involved buses, he said. Road Transport
Department enforcement personnel would be conducting checks at bus depots
and terminals throughout the country apart from disguising as passengers to
detect offences committed by the drivers.These inspections will focus on the
level of fitness of bus drivers and to ensure that they are free from the influence
of drugs or intoxicating beverages, he said, adding that the inspection teams will
be joined by personnel from the National Anti-Drug Agency and police.
In year 2010, the ladies coaches were introduced for the commuter trains.
It aims to provide a convenient and safe situation for female passengers. Adult
male travelers are not allowed to enter the ladies coach. However, the current
situation shows that there are still male passengers and women with male family
members in the ladies coaches. KTMB should assign more staffs in ensuring
that only ladies will be in the ladies coaches at all the time.
Fare
Compared to countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, Malaysia offers a
cheaper public transport service. Short journey of LRT only costs 80 sen. Rapid
card for frequent users. Weekly pass and monthly pass by KTM company.
KLIA Express is quite expensive, cost around RM33. Students can enjoy a
discount of 30% but it still not an affordable price. Authority should give more
discount to students to attract them. However, they can opt for bus which
heading directly to airport.
To promote tourism, authority has provided Go-KL free bus service. o is
this Go-KL free bus service good for the people? For me, it is. Not only it helps

people get to their destination, it also helps ease the traffic congestion during the
peak hours. It will definitely attract some people from outstation and tourist who
are staying because it is convenient and the buses stop at some shopping mall
and points of interest.
Punctuality
Punctuality is a major frustration for Malaysians Public Transport. The only public
transport which is known for its punctuality is KLIA Express and KLIA Transit to
the airport via Putrajaya. Intercity punctual
The increased concern in traffic safety issues, demand for mobilisation, road
congestion and blooming of trading activities have caused punctuality of train
services in their arrival and departure times as one of the essential factors in
determining their service quality. According to Salkonen (2008), punctuality is
usually considered in measuring the quality of service for train network. Different
countries and organisations have their own ways to measure the punctuality of
trains
The service of intercity trains for passengers has become important in Malaysia
due to the increasing mobility of people. Currently, KTMB still has the problems
with frequent delay in intercity trains that causes substantial nuisance to the
passengers and reduces the perceived utility of the system. In addition, the
intercity trains for passengers still have to share the same railway tracks with the
freight trains.
From the table, the range of arrival time delay for the intercity trains at Kluang
Railway Station is between 6 to 19 min. From the observation during the
study, the longest delay occurred on Sunday involving Ekspres Rakyat intercity
train that arrived 30 min late from the schedule. This train was bound from
Woodlands to Butterworth and the delay could have been caused by the late
departure at Woodlands station.Next, in terms of passengers perspective
towards

the punctuality of the trains, 82% of the respondents perceived that the train
service would not arrive on time while only 18% of the respondents perceived
that the trains would arrive on time.
Accessibility
A lot of cities in Malaysia do not have good public transport system. Public
transport such as LRT and monorail only available in the capital city of Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur. Bus companies do not provide (completed) public transport
system. Some residential areas do not have public bus. Some tourism spot
cannot be reached by public transport. Malaysia has a relatively well-developed
infrastructure, although the rural areas are somewhat lagging behind.
Consumers-Friendly
Touch and Go is a consumer-friendly initiative which enables consumers to avoid
the long queue in front of the ticket counters. Malaysians can use their own
identity card as a Touch and Go card. However, a lot of Touch and Go access
lane is not functioning. Passengers have to make a long queue in front of the
machine. Also, it is not easy to top up for Touch and Go card. Hence, there are
still a lot of consumer do not possess any Touch and Go card.
Lack of information. Consumers can hardly find information about the route at
bus station and even information counter. Some information counter can only
provide a map or suggest consumer to take a taxi.
Impolite attitude. Case where an old lady hit the bus driver. Some bus driver tend
to shout at passenger when passenger ask for direction. Voice system should be
implemented.
Improve their information on website. Provide online ticketing service for LRT and
KTM.

Over-crowded. And then there's the problem of overcrowding which is

aggravated by selfish ppl who block out the passage to other compartments

because of the lame reason of being afraid of not being able to alight the train
when it reaches their destinations. What's wrong these ppl? Sometimes they are
in a rush that they block out the entire door to the train, forcing the ppl alighting to
struggle really HARD to squeeze their way out...Sometimes I feel so fed up with
these things but since KTM's my only choice to certain places, I have to accept it.
Allocate more time for travelling,

For disabled people, ladys coach.

Counter, always closed. Some stations , ticketing close during night time. Take
the risk to enter the train without ticket.
need urgently improvement
KL public transport services need to measure up as number of users rise.