Loke: Carrot-and-stick approach to boosting bus use

KUALA LUMPUR: There will be stricter enforcement against motorists who use the dedicated lane for buses, says the Transport Minister.

Anthony Loke said the government is taking measures to boost public transport ridership and wants to ensure the special bus lane is not exploited.

“Mine has always been a carrot-and-stick approach. If the carrot doesn’t entice them, we will use the stick.

“People prefer not to take the bus because of the possibility of being stuck in jams and also because the frequency is unpredictable. That is why we are putting so much effort into introducing bus lanes.

“We have two bus lanes currently in Jalan Ampang and Jalan Genting Klang. If these two corridors are successful, we are looking at having more,” he told reporters after presenting the 2023 Performance Report and 2024 Prasarana Malaysia Bhd plan here yesterday.

According to the recently released Prasarana 2023 Performance and Future Plans report, the average daily bus ridership was 473,000 in 2019, 178,000 in 2022 and 241,000 in 2023. The government has set a target of 285,000 daily bus riders this year.

Shedding more light on the decline in bus ridership, Loke said the bus usage pattern had gone down from its peak period.

“Over the past few years, there has been a steady increase of between 500,000 and 600,000 new cars annually.

“A significant number of people are opting to buy new cars.

“Additionally, there is also a notable surge in the acquisition of used cars,” he said, adding that with more parents buying such vehicles for their children’s commuting needs, reliance on bus services has been significantly reduced.

Loke said his ministry has set a new policy for Prasarana to purchase electric buses from 2025 in an effort to increase the use of green vehicles (green mobility) in line with the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR).

“Next year, we will try to purchase new buses in the direction of EV buses.

“There was just another new purchase involving 310 diesel buses and I have told Prasarana that this will be the last purchase of diesel buses.

“After that, the procurement of buses would be towards EV models,” he added.

The minister said Prasarana also aims to upgrade 117 bus stops, 11 pedestrian walkways and 15 bus hubs this year.

To maintain the quality of its station facilities, Loke urged Prasarana to take measures to blacklist under-performing contractors.

“We will focus more on maintenance. The monitoring process has to be better. Contractors who cannot perform must be blacklisted,” he added.