FOR years now, the Penang ferry services have left much to be desired, but a takeover by the federal government-linked Prasarana Malaysia Bhd is now giving hope that the poor services will finally be improved.

The Penang government, which previously wanted to take over the services itself, have even abandoned its pursuit and is welcoming Prasarana – Malaysia’s largest public transport provider – to change things around with the ailing ferries.

“We welcome it, if professionals will be handling the services. We hope Prasarana will have the funds to improve the services,” Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.

He said judging from how Prasarana ran the Rapid Penang buses, which had been seeing improvements annually in terms of service and ridership, the state could be hopeful for the same results with the ferries.

“We can see they are more professional and committed. So we are keeping an open mind,” he said told reporters at Komtar today.

The Star Online reported today that the deal which will see Prasarana take over the ferry service, that will be called ‘rapidFerry’, for a token sum of RM1, had been finalised and was now waiting for the Cabinet’s approval.

Despite the takeover from Penang Port Sdn Bhd, the Penang Port Commission (PPC) will remain the regulator and overseer of the service.

Lim said the state government has been given assurances by Prasarana several months ago that the number of ferries and trips across the North Channel would be retained.

He said the assurance that the iconic ferries would be retained was most important as they were part of Penang’s history and heritage and were popular with visitors.

“They also plan to introduce catamarans to improve the service and increase the passenger load. It will make them a reliable mode of transport for people traveling between the island and the mainland.

“Without enough catamarans, there will be problems ensuring the ferries will arrive on time and handle the load,” he said.

Among the complaints with the existing ferry services for years now had been the slow service and long waiting time for cars to get onboard.

The waiting time to load cars onto the ferry and arrive at the destination can go up to two hours during rush hour and the holiday seasons.

Lim said for now, it was to his understanding that the ferry fares would not change, but he could not say for the future.

He also expressed hopes that Prasarana would be able to run the ferry operations free of political interference.

“I think Prasarana, a heavyweight GLC, is big enough to make sure PPC will not interfere, or be able to counter any political interference.”

The Pakatan Harapan state government had tried to take over the ferry services since the previous term in efforts to improve the service and it had several conditions should the ferry services be given to the administration to run.

The conditions included the state taking over both the Raja Tun Uda and Pangkalan Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminals and other ferry operation assets, as well as its low-level or support staff. As for its management staff, the state government had wanted to exercise its own discretion.

The state also would not take over any existing liabilities of the port for the ferries. It also wanted the Transport Ministry to approve 30 licenses for water taxis and docking berths to allow water taxi services to operate in Penang.

Lim said negotiations with the federal government failed when the state could not get the assurance that there would be no political interference from PPC, whose chairman was traditionally an MCA political appointee.

The last PPC chairman was former MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek. The present chairman is Penang MCA chief Tan Teik Cheng. – June 12, 2017.