Putrajaya not scrapping MRT feeder buses, says Loke

Asila Jalil Asila Jalil Updated 7 years ago · Published on 17 Oct 2018 12:07PM · 2 Comments

Anthony Loke says he hopes a multi-bus service will be rolled out soon. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, October 17, 2018.

PUTRAJAYA is not going to scrap feeder buses for mass rapid transit (MRT) commuters, the Transport Minister clarified today in response to public criticism of the purported move.

Minister Anthony Loke said there were no such plans and feeder bus services will, instead, be integrated with other bus services.

“As far as the Ministry of Transport is concerned, we have no plans to scrap feeder bus services. 

“We want to integrate with other bus services and hope we can roll out a multi-bus (service) soon,” he told reporters at the Parliament building today. 

The confusion arose after the finance minister’s political secretary, Tony Pua, last week said Putrajaya was in talks with e-hailing service provider Grab, to provide “complementary transport services” for MRT commuters.

Pua, speaking at an investment panel, had said Grab could provide door-to-door service from MRT stations to commuters’ homes, and the government could save money by not having to supply feeder buses.

Taxi drivers and some commuters protested Pua’s suggestion, saying Grab was not all that affordable for those earning lower incomes. 

Loke said the ministry still wanted to encourage more taxi drivers to join Grab and become part of an e-hailing network.

He added that the ministry’s main concern about improving public transportation were its connectivity and punctuality.

Another matter being looked into was improvements to payment systems so that paying for public transport could be seamless and cashless for commuters. – October 17, 2018.

Sign up or sign in here to comment.

Comments

  • Somewhat conflicting reports...
    There must be an understanding... matters pertaining to the mechanics of transport/transportation must be solely announced by the minister of transport..
    matters pertaining to financial aspects of projects should fall under the purview if the ministry of finance.
    There must be certain SOPs to suggest who within the Ministries are allowed to make statements to avoid confusion, inconsistency, etc..

    Posted 7 years ago by TTs Take · Reply

  • Next time if there are any statements to be made please have the director-general or Secretary General or the Deputy minister make the statements. Make sure it is within the scope of your ministry and not infringe on other ministries. Tony Pua has over stepped his boundary this couple of days. You are governing..every word that comes out of your mouth the rakyat will regard it as gospel truth so tread carefully.

    Posted 7 years ago by Lily Cheong · Reply