KL transportation co. for penang

wahh… so are we suppose to be very happy at our PM, badawi’s angpow for us, penangites? you know, when he announced that rapid KL will be taking over penang’s bus transportation and allocated RM50 mill. to improve bus system in penang.

how kind of him. how generous of him ah. he made sure to mention to us that last year he also gave us an angpow too – the proposed second bridge and monorail.

the PM made this announcement at the mca/gerakan CNY open house, of which i attended. however i did not stay till the end of his speech so i missed out this announcement (wonder were the people… or at least the VIP… applaud loud and hard on hearing this announcement). i knew about it only when i read the paper the next day.

well, it was our CM who pleaded for rapid KL to take over penang’s public bus system! he seemed to be very confident that the takeover of rapid kl will benefit bus commuters.

“With their experience and expertise and our own experience and feedback on the situation, there will be a more solid arrangement that will benefit commuters,” he told newsmen after attending the Chinese New Year open house hosted by the Khaw Kongsi here yesterday.

hmm…. i wonder will they seek the feedback of the most important persons of all – the bus commuters themselves!  i find it very annoying that most of the times those ‘higher up’ people planned things without taking into consideration the views of the public… the ‘grass-root’ people who will be the ones utlising what they had planned. 

i hope, since rapid KL is touted to be very good, very experienced with all the expertise one can dream of, they will do an extensive research on the roads/routes of penang before embarking on a bus system for penang.

one thing i like about the rapid KL buses is that the steps on a bus is very low… and if i’m not wrong,only one step? (i mean the step lower to the ground). in penang, some of the ‘yellow route’ buses (the nos. 3 series) are using express bus and this express bus, the steps are so high, and when you go up after the steps, there are no place for you to hold on. this is very bad for old people. my mother once fell when she try to get up one of the bus because she said the step is too high for her. (luckily there was no injury). 

when i was in KL, although i spy these rapid KL buses but i have not board it before. orang KL, how do you find rapid KL buses? freelunch in one of her latest post describe the bus with the 3 c’s – cool, clean and chic! how’s the service, like their time schedule? how are the drivers?

well i’m not too sure about rapid KL’s takeover of penang’s bus system will benefit us or not, but i’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will. it’s high time we penangites need a good, reliable public bus system.