The trip to Taiwan, make me feel jealous of how efficient their rail transport is,
"See how good people's MRT? Our Malaysia LRT really sucks!" I thought to myself.
WAIT A MINUTE!!!,
" When is your last time taking LRT? Do you take LRT every morning? How is the people traffic during peak hours? Who are those taking LRT? If you don't know, why are you throwing such blanket criticism when you don't... "
As usual my thought process started another series of battle, conclusion is I am going to take LRT every morning, to experience Malaysia public transport!
Of course that is not the only reason I took LRT, another one is because the traffic congestion on major highway is quite bad during peak hours.
How bad? An usual 20 minutes drive will become 60 minutes.
"Blah!!! Only 60 mins and you start complaining? stop being a bitch... We in Bangkok/ Jakarta will be trapped in traffic for 150 minutes for a 20 minutes drive etc.." I know many will respond like that.
True enough, our traffic congestion is not the worse in the world. Far behind Bangkok that is for sure,
This is the real picture i took at Bangkok in 2008. I got off the taxi at one of the BTS station (their LRT) as the taxi totally cannot move, the only thing moving is the metre... Fyi Bangkok was "crowned" the king of traffic jam in the world. That's why their Motor-Tuk business is better than Taxis.
For the sake of privacy, blasting your car audio at desired level, sitting behind the wheel and enjoy the breeze of aircon, it is sheer privilege in Malaysia that every normal people like you and me can drive to work.
" There is no privilege when everyone enjoys the privilege!"
In spite of the bad traffic, many think it is still bearable/ worth the trade off to drive than to be squeezed against sweaty bodies or engulfed in stinking body odour, provided you have reasonably high tolerance to traffic congestion. I don't.
Another reason to take public transport is to save money. How much?
On average i could save RM10.20/day by taking public transport. Saving a month is merely RM10.20 x 22days =RM224.40. For the sake of saving this amount, i have to sacrifice the convenience of having my car at my disposal ie go site visit or flexibility to leave anytime, not able to drive out for lunch etc.
Personally i think it is not the best way of saving money, penny wise pound foolish, you may end up missing the shuttle bus and have to take taxi, which those sucker will suck you dry!
In a nutshell, the experience of taking public transportation outweigh the above reasons. Feel what thousand experienced everyday, when in Rome, live like the roman. We need to understand how important the role of public transport in a modern city.
A bad experience in the first week. I was queuing at the second place, when the LRT arrived, out of sudden many passengers just rush ahead of me into the cramped train. When i realized it, it was too late to squeeze in. In the end i missed my shuttle bus and have to take cab to office.
I am not lamenting on my plight, i am in fact happy with the learning experience. When in Spain, eat like the locals. Still i believe there are areas our LRT could improve:
1. Draw clear queue line on the platform for people to queue up. People need clear regulation to follow.
2. Update the LRT location on real time, uploaded to server, which can be viewed online/ on smart phone, error up to 5 secs.
3. For the train heading to Sri Petaling or Ampang, instead of having the destination shown in front and at the back of carriage, propose to put one on the side of every carriage (only three). This is because all passengers wait at the side of the train before boarding, nobody wait in front/back!
4. Volunteers needed. They can assist those handicap/senior citizen/bringing big luggage and ensure the people queue up in order.
5. Install the LED on the LRT map in the train. The LED light will show green in the station it is going in. Helpful to those absent minded/doze off in the train. (something like below, LRT in Beijing)
After taking public transport for few weeks, i began to find that it is very environmental friendly. Imagine the amount of CO2 emission for a single trip to office, and how much you contribute to the pollution.
I have a dream,
"Hope to see Malaysian like you and me start taking public transport, although we can afford the driving expenses.
It is a virtue to let those who are in need or urgent/emergency to drive and on the other hand save mother earth.
We can make our country a cleaner, less congested and better place to live."
