BN government fails as we are losing more public bus routes and services?

Bus Services is an essential public transport service - not just for the poor, and Malaysian government has not been so bothered in maintaining, let alone improving this service.

Sadly, it has been alleged that today the getting of a license to operate a public bus service  is getting tough - whereby that decision is allegedly now with the Federal Government. Realistically, it should be the Local Council and/or maybe the State Government who would be more aware of the real local needs of the ordinary people residing in the area...and as such, approval and permits should be at this level.

Now, many routes have been discontinued by major bus service operators over the years, and this has affected the loss of jobs for local drivers and bus company staff. And, of cour4se, the local people who relied on these bus services suffers..

And, yet again, Transnasional is allegedly going to cut even more routes...

Now, the bus operators, are many a time, big companies or businesses, who really are only concerned with PROFITS - not public service.

Public bus transportation is in fact an essential public service, and as such, it should really be under the government. 

True, for some areas, there will not be too many customers - but even for the few, they need to be provided public transportation. Yes, some routes will never be profitable - but that does not mean, you can discontinue the services. If that happens, pity the people who live in kampungs, small tamans and housing areas. Not right...

Now, in many of the rural areas and even smaller towns, there is still no metered taxi service, thus enabling taxi drivers and operators to be able to charge exorbitant charges - and yes, there is also no radio taxi, meaning that it is very very difficult to call for a taxi. Why? 

2016 - we should already be having radio taxis, with call in service, and fixed rates(metered) throughout Malaysia...

Given the expansion of towns, and the fact that there are many kampungs and people living in the outskirts, what is essential is that there should also be localized town/district bus services that will give ordinary people, especially the poor and those who have no other means of transport easy ability to travel from one place to another, and these bus services must be regular, at the very least every half an hour. Take Temerloh for instance, there is still no regular bus service to even get to the hospitals...from the Temerloh bus stand and back. If there are regular and dependable bus service, then people will use less their cars - for after all even parking rates have increased, and parking space availability is a major problem even in a place like Temerloh.

We should be having government-run bus services in some cases, whereby the operation and management should be by the Local Government, monitored by the State government. 

Operation also would mean, provision of covered bus-stops and also provision of 'schedule' information at all bus stops. Services should be regular, and should be frequent at least once every 20-30 minutes. And during peak periods, when people go for work, the frequency must be higher. It is the 'non-dependability' of existing bus services that is deterring people from using public bus services. Bus services also need to operate at least until 11.00 pm, noting that the closing of supermarkets and shops usually is at 10.00pm. It is best that operation is 24 hours, where the frequency should maybe be once every hour during non-peak hours. Remember, that in many factories, workers work on shifts and the time these shifts start and end must be considered.

Like electricity and water, public transportation is a basic right that should be enjoyed by everyone. It should be available to all even to the smaller settlements where very few people live...like kampungs, plantations, FELDA settlements, orang asli communities...

There should be flexibility to allow also the usage of school buses especially when they are not involved in sending kids to and from schools. Maybe like 'school busses', which enter every little kampung - similar community bus services should be allowed...

Transnasional suspends 19 Cityliner routes

 Source: Bernama

KOTA BARU, 1 MAY 2016: 

The Konsortium Transnasional Bhd announced today that 19 of its Cityliner stage bus routes will be discontinued as of today.

The company stated in a statement that the routes were discontinued as the company was not able to sustain the operations cost as it no longer had financial backing from the government.

The routes discontinued are Machang-Tanah Merah, Machang-Pasir Puteh, Kota Baru-Tok Bali-Kampung Raja, Kota Baru-Cabang Empat-Tumpat, Kota Baru-Bunut Susu-Pasir Mas, Tumpat-Palekbang-Kota Baru, Kuala Krai-Dabong, Kota Baru-Pasir Puteh-Jelor and the Jeli-Kuala Balah-Dabong.

Other affected routes are Kota Baru-Kemubu-Machang, Pasir Mas-Repek-Rantau Panjang, Kota Baru-Kemumin-Sabak, Kota Baru-Pantai Cahaya Bulan, Kota Baru-Tiong-Bachok, Kota Baru-Bukit Marak-Bachok, Kota Baru-Bachok-Pengkalan Baru, Kota Baru-City, Rantau Panjang-Panglima Bayu and Pasir Puteh-Kuala Besut-Jerteh. _ Rakyat Post, 1/5/2016

More stage bus route services may stop

Source:
Bernama

JOHOR BARU, 2 May 2016: 

The Johor Bus Operators Association today urged the federal government to continue with disbursements under the Interim Stage Bus Support Fund (ISBSF) to enable the bus services involved to continue their operations.

Its president Jotisrop Suchdav said a total of 16 bus companies within the state faced losses since all of them did not receive the distribution of funds involved from the Land and Public Transport Commission (SPAD), for the past four months.

“We are concerned as the last date in which we received the funds was Dec 31 last year, and subsequently, we had to use our savings to manage our bus operations.

“If we don’t get the funds, the bus services will have to stop as we have no other financial source, and we are facing problems in paying wage increases to be implemented on July 1.” 

Suchdav said they did not want to follow the footsteps of several bus service companies in Kelantan, Pahang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan that have ceased bus service operations as they were unable to bear the cost of their bus operations.

He said, currently, a total of 600 buses were operated by 16 companies within this state that used the 50 main routes.

He said the companies would usually receive a monthly fund of RM10,000 to RM30,000 depending on their respective operational cost.

He said, since 2008, the bus service had not increased their bus fare by 24%, as required following the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

He said, consequently, if the bus services ceased their operations, a total of 3,000 bus drivers would lose their jobs and 100,000 bus users nationwide and in Singapore would be affected.- Rakyat Post, 2/5/2016