FOR those who have not noticed, Pemandu has issued its 2016 Annual Report for the government National Transformation Programme (NTP), and it is a doozy. Perhaps some will notice the anti-corruption side not being cared for, or perhaps even how the agriculture side seems a lot shorter than before, but I would like to focus on the public transport National Key Result Area (NKRA).

After all, being a person heavily dependent on public transport because I don’t own a car, the points brought up by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) to once again show us “everything is awesome” is - quite frankly - a farce.

Let us start by their results which you can find on page 235, after every single “feel good” writing has passed and we get to the very core of this report.

First off, Pemandu decided to record that the KTM Komuter service runs on time with a leeway of 10 minutes, to make their results look good. Now, failing to make the trains run on time is one thing, but saying that they are on time 90% of the time with a quietly written “within 10 minutes” clause reeks of dishonesty.

The reason for my disgruntled nature is because the Komuter is timed to arrive at peak hours every 15 minutes, and every 40 minutes during off-peak time. And thus, with a 10-minute leeway, passengers are effectively waiting for almost half an hour, and an hour, respectively.

Similarly, how exactly can a launched Journey Planner App be 80% complete? It’s either launched or not. Is this an issue with the data and information not being on time? Honestly, I’m wondering why they didn’t just invite the CityMapper team from the UK, which is already doing the same for Singapore.

And why has it only increased by 10% of completion in an entire year, compared to their 2015 report on page 270?

It is also worrying to notice that Pemandu decided to only tally the AM Peak Ridership, rather than also look at the PM Peak Ridership?

And there’s also this problem; the number of public transport riders is decreasing!

According to Pemandu’s 2015 report, the actual year to date figure for AM Peak Ridership was 447,195.  For 2016, it showed only 435,439, a reduction of 11,756 people. And yet somehow, the so-called urban public transport satisfaction level went from 74% in 2015, to 84% in the last year?

How can satisfaction be up, when ridership went down? Is it because people are happier that the trains are emptier and less crowded?

Something seems off.

The Monorail Expansion Project which has been in discussion since 2013, is only reaching 70% of issuing the Letter of Approval (LOA). This is a four-year delay, but there’s no mention of why. Similarly, how does the upcoming Integrated Transport Terminal in Gombak reach only the level of site possession?

And of course, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor 1 project from Kuala Lumpur to Klang. For those who don’t know, there was this brilliant plan mooted by the Malaysian Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) in February 2014 to build a BRT on the Federal Highway, from Klang right into KL with the price of RM999 million.

Now, this plan was somehow put on a shelf somewhere, and we ended up getting the Sunway BRT instead, which is both expensive and not meeting its ridership numbers. You can find a detailed analysis of this written by the Penang Institute.

And now, three years later, the government goes yet again for the BRT and is calling for tenders, while the Komuter is about to be further delayed due to improvements and the LRT Line 3 is nowhere near completion.

But the most disturbing thing done by Pemandu is this – there seems to be NKRAs from the 2015 report which are missing and not mentioned in their latest one.

For instance, have all the four-car train sets for the Monorail been delivered? In 2015, only 5 out of 12 made it onto the rails. And what happened to the KTMB Semi Overhaul EMU Class 83 Project?

Have the additional parking bays along the Klang Valley rail network been increased? In 2015, only 229 out of 1,600 were delivered.

Also, has the Teksi 1Malaysia programme, listed as an NKRA in 2015, been scrapped? Why has the target number of taxis in the KL Budget Taxi Fleet at par with ASEAN Best in Class, been reduced from 3,749 in 2015 to a mere 2,000 in 2016?

Isn’t that pretty much shifting the goal post to gain a “green light” for your report?

Pains me a bit to say this, but Pemandu’s reports on this matter seems farcical at best, downright fraudulent at worst. They should review it or explain why they’ve shifted the goal posts for the NKRAs, perhaps trying to do so without anyone noticing.

Well, I noticed. – May 26, 2017.

* Hafidz loves to ruffle feathers and believes in the EA Games tag line of challenging everything. Most times, he represents the Devil’s Advocate on multiple issues.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.