PRASARANA Malaysia Bhd (Prasarana) through Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd plans to add more than 300 buses, including 100 electric buses involving an allocation of RM180 million, in 2024.

Prasarana president and group chief executive officer Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah said the first phase of the plan to increase the number of buses would only involve Rapid KL services following high demand from people in the federal capital.

“We will start opening tenders in the first quarter of 2023, and the provision provided also covers the work of upgrading the infrastructure and electrical cables at the station depots for the charging process.

“Right now, we have a total of 1,540 Rapid KL buses, but only 1,183 operate every day. The number of buses is still very small compared to other countries with efficient public transport like Singapore,” he told Bernama.

Azharuddin said the company would introduce 45 electric mini buses measuring 7m to 8m in length and 55 large-sized buses measuring 10m to 12m.

Azharuddin said Rapid KL had tested the electric buses for the Bus Rapid Transit Sunway line using two selected bus routes for three months from April to June.

The routes were Route 400: Damai Perdana to Lebuh Pudu hub via Bukit Bintang, and Route 650: Taman Desa to Pasar Seni hub.

“We are confident we will be able to move these 100 electric buses, in line with the improvement in the rail system in the future, thus offering an optimal service to public transport users,” he added. – Bernama, December 13, 2022.