Govt moving in the right direction

THE members of The Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit (Transit) note the announcement of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Malacca Omnibus Operators' Association and Malacca chief minister to have the state government take over bus operations in the state.

This will come about with the state government and bus operators creating a consortium to take over the bus companies' assets, replace outdated buses and increase the number of bus routes.
The agreement and the consortium concept have both advantages and disadvantages. At least, it is a positive step forward for public transport. Hopefully, it will increase confidence and will lead to improvements in the way we look at public transport.


Considering the fact that Malaysia is facing a public transport crisis, knowing that service shutdowns will not reach Malacca is definitely good news.

Malacca is so far the first state that has not only taken a proactive approach to deal with the crisis, but has also upheld a commitment, which it made last year, to get involved in public transport.

The question that must be asked is whether the consortium approach is the best solution for public transport - not just to prevent a crisis from happening, but also to transform the public transport industry.

One concern that we at Transit have is that the consortium approach does not bring together all four stakeholder groups. Only the bus operators and local government are involved in the consortium, leaving out the government and most importantly, the public transport users.

A good example would be the 10 new buses purchased for the Panorama bus service. While it is good to have new buses, we notice that they have three steps. These buses are not wheelchair accessible, and climbing up and down would be a challenge for the elderly and less able-bodied public transport users.

If public transport users are given a voice, they would have suggested that Panorama buy wheelchair accessible, flat-floor buses similar to those recently purchased by Prasarana for RapidKL, which are operating feeder bus routes in Petaling Jaya.

And if the government had a voice at the table, with representatives from Prasarana and the Land Public Tansport Commission (SPAD), they could have found a way to buy wheelchair accessible, flat-floor buses - an extension on the Prasarana order, for example.

Transit believes that the best solution for public transport is not necessarily to have the government take over public transport operations and assets from private companies. We would prefer to see the government take an active role in the planning, organising and managing of public transport routes instead of trying to operate a public transport service.

Instead of Panorama as the brandname for a consortium of bus operators (which is the current plan), it would be better to have Panorama as the brandname for a Malacca public transport authority, bringing together the state government, bus operators, the government (through liaisons from SPAD and Prasarana) and most importantly, the public transport users.

This solution will bring together the accountability and responsibility of the chief minister and state government, the operating experience of the bus operators, the asset management skills (and hopefully, some funding) from Prasarana, the regulatory and transport planning knowledge of the SPAD and the participation of the public transport users. This is because without the long- term support of the public transport users, the industry will never be successful.

With this new consortium the Malacca government and bus operators have come together and taken one small step forward to make public transport stable. However, if all four stakeholder groups come together, they can take one giant leap forward to transform public transport and set an example for all Malaysians.

Moaz Yusuf Ahmad, for The Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit, Kuala Lumpur