Rapid KL

Public transport restructuring

The need for Kuala Lumpur's public transport system to be revamped became apparent once the city's LRT lines began commercial operations and it was determined that ridership had been much lower than anticipated. This caused correspondingly lower than expected revenue levels, and the two LRT concessionaires, Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan Sdn Bhd (STAR-LRT) and Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA-LRT), could not repay their commercial loans. The 1997 Asian financial crisis aggravated the situation, and by November 2001, the two companies owed a combined total of RM5.7 billion. The Government of Malaysia's Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC) stepped in to restructure the debts of the two LRT companies.

The bus service in Kuala Lumpur was also facing problems with lower ridership due to an increase in private car usage and a lack of capital investments. The two new bus consortia formed in the mid 1990s to consolidate all bus services in Kuala Lumpur, 'Intrakota Komposit and Cityliner, began facing financial problems. Intrakota had reportedly accumulated losses amounting to RM450 million from the 1997 financial crisis until Prasarana Malaysia took over in 2003.

With decreased revenues, the bus operators could not maintain their fleets, much less invest in more buses. Frequencies and service deteriorated as buses began breaking down, and ridership suffered as a result. Public transport usage in the Klang Valley area dropped to about 16% of all total trips.

Improvement steps

Siemens Inspiro 4-car train on the Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line.

A 6-car train manufactured by CSR Zhuzhou at Awan Besar on the Sri Petaling Line.

A 4-car trainset Innovia Metro 300 on the Kelana Jaya Line.

Scomi Sutra 4-car train on KL Monorail.

BYD K9 on the BRT Sunway Line.

Alexander Dennis Enviro500 MMC operated by Rapid Bus at Cheras Selatan depot.

MAN 18.280 HOCL-NL at bus stop in front of Hotel Furama, Jalan Pudu.

Since taking over the LRTs and bus network, Prasarana has taken steps to improve services.

• Increasing LRT capacity:Prasarana issued tenders for the purchase of new LRT rolling stock to increase carrying capacity, including 35 new train sets for the Kelana Jaya Line in October 2006 and October 2007. The trains were expected to be operational by September 2009. On 27 July 2009, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the 35 new four-car trains would be operational by end-2012.^[1]
• Boosting bus fleet:As most of the Rapid KL buses inherited were old and poorly maintained, the immediate concern was to get more buses on the road. In 2005, the government promised 200 new Rapid KL buses.
• Increasing bus routes:Prasarana introduced several new routes to cover previously unserved areas.
• Scheduled bus services: Rapid Bus introduced scheduled services for 16 Rapid KL bus routes which were not heavily utilised. For the first time in Malaysia, expected bus arrival times and timetables were posted at bus stops along routes. However, the bus stop timetables as well as the myrapid website has since been removed due to the inability of services to reliably adhere to these schedules. This was primarily caused by problems such as traffic congestion and an insufficient number of serviceable buses.
• Common monthly passes for both LRT and buses: For the first time commuters were offered monthly passes which could be used on both LRTs and buses, helping to enhance the integration of the public transport system.
• Common signage for all three LRT lines: The renaming of Putra-LRT and Star-LRT along with the changing of its signage helped to enhance integration of the previously unconnected systems.
• Common Ticketing System: Touch 'n Go could be used in all Rapid KL buses and rail lines
• Revamp of Rapid KL bus network: Prasarana scrapped the old Intrakota and Cityliner routes it inherited and introduced three types of bus services: City shuttles (BANDAR), trunk buses (UTAMA), local shuttles (TEMPATAN) and express buses (EKSPRES). City shuttles will operate within Kuala Lumpur's central business district while trunk buses will link hubs at the edge of the CBD with suburban transportation hubs. At these suburban hubs, local shuttles will radiate out from rail-based public transport stations and fan out to residential areas. Express buses provide non-stop point-to-point travel to specific destinations.

Rail

The entire Rapid KL rail network operated by Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd is 151.1 km long and has 116 stations. These trains can travel up to 80 km/h. In 2008, these rail networks carried a total of over 350,000 passengers daily.^[2]

Bus

The entire Rapid KL bus network operated by Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd and is also one of the largest stage bus operators in the Klang Valley, along with Transnasional. Currently, there are 98 stage bus routes and 39 feeder bus services which operate from LRT stations. The bus routes operated by Rapid Bus were previously operated by'Intrakota Komposit Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Bhd; and Cityliner Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Park May Bhd. In 2008, Rapid Bus carried around 390,000 passengers daily.^[2]

Current services

Future service