To ensure efficient ticketing, KTM Komuter uses an automatic fare collection (AFC) system with ticket vending machines (TVMs), automatic gates and magnetic-strip tickets. Although the AFC system has a closed-system design, KTM Komuter faces some problems, especially where villagers for illegal crossing of tracks have breached the railway fences. To control fare evaders, KTM Komuter employs roving ticket inspectors to make spot ticket checks.
At present, KTM Komuter carries about 64,000 passengers daily, 61% of whom are young people between 19 and 29. It is also carrying increasingly more white-collar passengers than when it started. KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur, Subang Jaya, Bank Negara, Serdang, Seremban, and Kajang stations have high ridership because they are either in densely populated residential areas or are situated close to government offices or commercial buildings. KL Sentral is the biggest connecting station where passengers can transfer between LRT, ERL and intercity trains.
Although located 73 km from KL, Seremban Station collects high revenues because it serves many commuters. Property in and around Seremban is cheaper than in KL and its suburb, so some people are willing to spend more time commuting to enjoy the advantages of larger houses. This trend is expected to continue with more property development occurring further from the city but closer to commuter lines. A similar phenomenon will probably occur in the north when commuter services are extended to Tanjung Malim.
To cater for long-distance commuters, KTM Komuter operates two express services in the morning from Seremban to KL, and two express services from KL back to Seremban in the evening. They make only three stops, reducing the journey time from 1 hour 15 minutes to exactly 1 hour.
To increase peak capacity, especially over the section between Sentul and Port Klang, two three-car sets are coupled together to form a six-car set with only one driver. Three six-car services run during the morning and evening peak hours.
KTM Komuter caters for various travel requirements with various types of tickets. In addition to the normal single and return tickets, regular users can buy 12- and 24-trip tickets at 20% discount. Regular travellers using a monthly season ticket enjoy a 33% discount.
To encourage people to travel during off-peak times, the Tiket Mana-Mana pass entitles the holder to unlimited travel anywhere on the network on any weekday after 09:00. It costs just RM6.00 (RM1.00 = US$0.26). A similar Tiket Kembara day pass for weekends and public holidays costs RM10.00. It is more expensive than the weekday pass because many people use KTM Komuter at weekends for leisure, shopping, visiting friends and returning to their hometowns. In line with the government intention to create common ticketing, KTM Komuter will be installing contactless Touch'n Go smart card readers in 2003, giving passengers the choice of using a normal KTM Komuter ticket or a prepaid contactless Touch'n Go smart card that is also accepted by the STAR and PUTRA LRTs, buses and toll highways.
Commuter services have affected property development around commuter stations. When commuter services first started, most stations could only be accessed from one side. However, development of housing estates and commercial properties around stations has required the opening of second access points. The need for better access and links with bus stops and other transport modes like taxis has required construction of covered walkways, etc. Popular stations like Seremban, Kajang, Serdang and Sungai Buloh also need larger car parks.
Property development near commuter lines has created new markets. KTMB identified a few locations such as Mid Valley, Sri Damansara and Seremban Two for construction of new stations to meet increasing demand. The most attractive site is at Mid Valley where there is a mega-shopping complex as well as a hotel, offices, and condominiums. This new station is expected to complete in mid-2004. Currently, KTMB is constructing an electrified double track between Rawang and Ipoh. When completed in 2005, services will run 55 km further north to Tanjung Malim with five additional stations from Rawang.
This project will also include rapid train services with new train sets between KL Sentral and Ipoh. Another big project in the pipeline that should be completed in 2006 is the double-tracking and electrification of a 7.2-km extension from Sentul to Batu Caves, passing through new stations at Batu Kentonmen, Kg. Batu and Taman Wahyu. The extension will serve a new Sentul Station that will be built for the joint-venture Sentul Raya property development on the site of a former railway central workshop
4.2 Light Rail Transit (LRT).
KL has two light rail transit (LRT) systems—the STAR LRT and the PUTRA LRT. The STAR LRT system was established as a BOT project with a 60 year lease in November 1991. Revenue operations started on 16 December 1996 for phase 1 from Ampang to Sultan Ismail (12 km). The line from Pudu to Ampang runs mainly on an abandoned line formerly operated by KTMB. After KL was awarded the 1998 Commonwealth Games in 1994, the government decided to extend a line southwards to serve the National Sport Complex. As compensation for operating this low-density extension, STAR received approval for a 3-km extension northwards from Sultan Ismail to Sentul Timur into a high-density residential area.
The southern extension (phase 2) between Chan Sow Lin and Sri Petaling was completed 2 months before the Commonwealth Games and KL took pride in the smooth transport services provided by the STAR LRT and KTM Komuter to thousands of spectators. The northern extension was completed in December 1998, increasing the total route length to 27 km.
Originally, each STAR LRT train consisted of three single-articulated, two-section carriages with a motorized bogie at each end and a trailer bogie under the articulation. The two end carriages each had a driver's cab and were semi-permanently coupled back-to-back to the intermediate carriage to form a three-car set. The trains are now configured with four and six cars.
The STAR LRT uses a 750-Vdc third rail electrification system. The signalling is based on trackside signalling backed up by an ATP system. The AFC system uses magnetic-stripe technology with station gates. Passengers can buy tickets either from TVMs or at ticket counters. The STAR LRT trains start at 06:00 and stop at 24:00. The service frequency ranges from one train every 3 minutes during peak hours to one train every 10 minutes at other times. The capacity is 33,200 passengers in each direction per hour. Currently, the STAR LRT carries about 92,000 passengers each day.
The PUTRA LRT was established on 15 February 1994 with a 60-year concession to design construct and operate a 29-km LRT from Subang Depot via KL Sentral to PUTRA terminal at Taman Melati. The mostly elevated route runs through many high-density residential and commercial areas on a dual-track guideway. It includes a 4.4-km tunnel and 2.2 km at grade. There are 18 elevated stations, five underground stations and one station at grade. It is considered to be the world's largest, fully automatic driverless system using linear induction motors.
Revenue operation began on 1 September 1998 with a headway of 5 minutes during peak hours. Services run between 06:00 to 24:00. The morning peak is between 07:00 and 09:00 and the evening peak is between 16:00 and 18:00. Initially, the capacity was 10,000 passengers in each direction per hour using 35 two-car trains. Today, the service frequency is between 2.9 and 3.3 minutes during peak hours and between 5 and 10 minutes at other times.
The system is fully automatic with driverless trains supervised by the control centre in Lembah Subang Depot. This is achieved by using an automatic train control (ATC) system. The electric power is supplied from the national grid to substations providing 750 Vdc for traction and 240/415 Vac to station facilities. The power supply and distribution system is remotely controlled and monitored by the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition System (SCADA).
Since the PUTRA LRT is fully automated, it has various safety systems. The ATC system uses fail-safe and redundant computers, and incorporates ATP sub-systems in software.
The PUTRA LRT's AFC system uses magnetic-stripe tickets as well as contactless Touch' n Go smart cards. A monthly season ticket costs MYR70.00 and allows the holder 1 month of unlimited travel on the network. Magnetic stored-fare (SF) cards can be purchased from TVMs or at ticket counters but monthly season tickets can only be purchased from ticket counters. Today, the PUTRA LRT carries about 150,000 passengers each day but the steadily increasing passenger volume requires more frequent or longer trains.
Stations on the PUTRA LRT are serviced by PUTRAline is flat fare (RM0.50) feeder buses. The first operations began with a fleet of 90 buses providing services in a 3-km radius at intervals of 15 minutes during peak hours and 20 minutes at other times.
After some years of operation, both the STAR LRT and the PUTRA LRT faced serious financial difficulties in servicing loans related to construction of infrastructure and purchase of rolling stock. The government restructured both companies in September 2002. They now operate as the STARline and PUTRAline under a company responsible for managing critical public infrastructure.
4.3 ERL
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) was built as a major hub airport for SE Asia like the airports in Singapore and Bangkok. Since it is about 57 km south of KL, a rail link to the city centre was seen as essential for getting people to and from the airport quickly and the easy access was expected to enhance KL's reputation as an efficient commercial and financial hub.
The 57-km long ERL runs over double tracks electrified to 25 kVac along the entire alignment. There are passing tracks at intermediate stations to allow KLIA Express trains to pass KLIA Transit trains standing at stations. Since trains run at speeds up to 160 km/h, the track is standard gauge (1435 mm) instead of the meter gauge used elsewhere on the KTMB network.
The ERL was constructed under a 30-year design, finance, construct, manage, operate and maintain concession. The engineering, procurement and construction contract was awarded to the SYZ Consortium—a joint venture between Siemens AG of Germany, Siemens Electrical Engineering Sdn. Bhd. and Syarikat Pembinaan Yeoh Tiong Lay Sdn. Bhd. The total project cost MYR2.4 billion, financed by a combination of equity holdings and loans from a local financial institution as well as export credits from Germany.
Revenue service started on 14 April 2002 with KLIA Express non-stop high-speed services between Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal (KL CAT) and KLIA. Trains depart from both terminals every 15 minutes from 05:00 to 01:00 with a journey time of 28 minutes.
They have a seating capacity of 156 passengers per four-car train, and offer an ambience similar to business class on an airplane. Reservations are not required because the service is operated as a shuttle and the single fare is RM 35.00. The KLIA Transit is a fast commuter service operating between both terminals with additional stops at Bandar Tasik Selatan, Putrajaya and Salak Tinggi. It runs every 30 minutes during peak hours and the journey time is 35 minutes. The trains can carry 540 people including standing passengers.
The train were built at the Siemens SGP plant in Vienna, Austria; eight sets are dedicated for the KLIA Express, while four sets are for the KLIA Transit. The ERL uses automatic signalling and traffic management system with ATP. The KLIA Express has a semi-open ticketing system with gates at KL Sentral Station but not at KLIA. There is also a plan to install the contactless Touch'n Go smart card system too. The KLIA Express offers baggage check-in for Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Royal Brunei Airlines at KL CAT in KL Sentral Station.
Since sufficient time is required to carry the baggage by train to the airport baggage handling system, KLIA Express operator insists that passengers must check-in at least 2 hours before their flight departure. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has assigned the XKL code to KL CAT so baggage can be tagged to XKL from any disembarkation point if a passenger chooses to collect his or her bags at KL CAT. The checkout facility at KL CAT has yet to be implemented.
Today, the KLIA Express and KLIA Transit carry about 7000 passengers each day.
4.4 KL Monorail
The 8.6-km long KL Monorail links the recently opened KL Sentral Station (where it connects with the KTM Komuter and Intercity services, the PUTRA LRT, and the ERL), with Titiwangsa (where it connects with the STAR LRT). It also connects with the STAR and PUTRA LRTs at two intermediate stations en route. There are 9 stations between KL Sentral and Titiwangsa spaced at about 800 m in the central business district. The monorail is seen by many to be KL's missing transport link because it will connect with and complement the other urban transportation systems. Construction has been completed and the system is now being tested and commissioned with revenue service anticipated in August 2003.
The KL Monorail is a straddle system and the guideway runs mainly above the median of main roads in KL's central business district. Initially, the services will use 12 sets of two-car trains but each set can be increased to four or six cars by inclusion of intermediate cars. The maximum speed is 80 km/h with an acceleration rate of 1.1 m/s². The round trip time is 39 minutes assuming station-standing times of 20 s and a 30-s turnaround at the terminus. Therefore, the system can operate at a headway of 2.5 minutes. Each car has 24 seats and each two-car train can carry 107 people. To assure absolute safety, the driver-only trains are supervised by an ATP system at all times.
The stations are constructed mostly from lightweight materials making maximum use of precast concrete components and fabricated steel assembled off-site. With a platform length of 40 m, each station can accommodate trains of up to four cars in length. The 750-Vdc power for traction is drawn from the national power grid, transformed, rectified and supplied to power rails.
The signalling system uses bi-directional fixed blocks with both trackside and cab signals for extra safety. Like traditional LRT systems, the SCADA and associated systems are managed from an operation control room in an operations control centre.
The monorail route mainly serves major commercial areas such as Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Chow Kit as well as tourist areas like Bukit Bintang and main interchanges like KL Sentral. Since it has to pass through very developed and expensive areas, a monorail running over the median of public main roads was the most cost-effective construction choice. Another monorail is presently being designed for Putrajaya, the new government administration centre.
5.0 THE EFFECT OF THE INTEGRATED RAIL SERVICE.
The opening of the KL Monorail in August 2003 will complete the first phase of the Integrated Kuala Lumpur Transit System (IKLTS) with a total of 98 stations, covering most of KL and its suburbs. Although some areas, like Bandar Damansara and major areas of Cheras and Bukit Jalil, are not covered, the network will form the basis for future extensions and station additions. Ridership seems likely to grow as standards of service and accessibility improve.
Since different operators operate KL’s rail networks, integration is an important issue. Physical integration with good station transfers is very important for efficiency. Five stations in KL meet these requirements—KL Sentral, Masjid Jamek, Titiwangsa, Hang Tuah and Bandar Tasik Selatan. Other stations like Kuala Lumpur, Bank Negara and Dang Wangi are within walking distance of Pasar Seni, Bandaraya and Bukit Nenas stations, respectively.
KL Sentral is an excellent example of an integrated transport terminal. The station and facilities were developed based on a concession agreement between the government and concessionaire controlled by Malaysia Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB). The station was designed as part of the overall KL Sentral master plan for redevelopment of the old KTMB marshalling yard at Brickfields - a 72-acre site running from Travers Bridge in the west to Istana Bridge in the east.
The requirements of both individual rail operators and passengers were considered in the design. All three operators—KTMB, the PUTRA LRT and the ERL had specific passenger requirements. For example, KTMB's intercity travellers needed large waiting areas and sufficient space for luggage while PUTRA LRT's passengers needed short and quick entries and exits whereas the ERL had to ensure that its passengers could enjoy facilities like those at an airport.
The design solution was to give each operator its own concourse in order to assure enhanced p assenger services. Apart from the station facilities, the station also houses the KTMB Railway Maintenance Depot for rolling stock cleaning, maintenance, and overhaul. Ultimately, the station will form part of the integrated KL Sentral development that will include offices, shops, hotels and condominiums. The station came into operation on 16 April 2001 and the whole development, especially the commercial component, is expected to complete in 2012. The station has 12 platforms and 14 tracks.
The Railway Maintenance Depot is located at ground level under the station building and has five tracks for marshalling carriages, five tracks for maintaining carriages, four tracks for maintaining locomotives, plus other infrastructure like a locomotive load test facility, administration building, etc. The station is managed under a 15-year concession agreement between the government and Semasa Sentral Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of MRCB. The main intent is to ensure that the integrity of the station and the Kuala Lumpur Sentral development is maintained.
Like KL Sentral, Bandar Tasek Selatan Station connects four railway services—KTM Komuter, KLIA Express, KLIA Transit and the STAR LRT. It will also connect with a new interstate bus terminal that is to be built nearby. Although the connections are not in the same building, they are quite close to each. During the Commonwealth Games in 1998, Bandar Tasek Selatan was a very effective and busy transfer between KTM Komuter and STAR LRT services, connecting directly to the National Sport Complex. This phenomenon still continues during major events at the National Sport Complex like soccer matches and concerts. Completion of the Southern Sector Interstate Bus Complex will make the station even busier.
Masjid Jamek Station is an important interchange between the PUTRA and STAR LRTs, which are now under the same management and have introduced a monthly season ticket allowing the holder unlimited travel on both systems. However, good integration is not limited only to rail. KTM Komuter's Putra Station is a popular transfer between KTM Komuter and interstate express buses bound for the east coast departing from the Putra Bus Terminal.
KTM Komuter's Nilai Station has become a popular interchange for budget travellers going to or coming from KLIA who catch a bus from Nilai Station to KLIA or vice versa. Although the total train and bus fare is just RM 7.20, the trip takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. Nilai Station is also very busy during the Formula One racing season when it becomes an interchange point to the racetrack at Sepang International Circuit.
Since physical integration between various transport modes is important, all future construction of transport terminals should give priority to easy transfers. In this regard, the government is planning to construct interstate bus terminals close to PUTRA LRT stations for east-coast buses and close to KTM Komuter stations for northbound buses.
But physical integration alone is not sufficient to make public transport an attractive choice for the public—passengers are now demanding seamless travel between different operators. Unfortunately, all bus and rail operators have adopted different ticketing systems, making it very expensive to modify the systems to create a fully integrated AFC system.
To resolve this impasse, the government had decided to adopt a common ticketing system using the contactless Touch'n Go smart card system for KTM Komuter, STAR LRT, PUTRA LRT, ERL, KL Monorail, Park May Bus and Intrakota Bus. This contactless technology is also available in the new Malaysian Identity Card known as Mykad. A passenger with either a Touch'n Go card or Mykad will be able to transfer without having to buy different tickets for each operator. The PUTRA LRT and Park May buses have already installed the Touch'n Go infrastructure and the system is expected to be ready for the other operators in late 2003.
Even before implementation of common ticketing, the rail operators have been cooperating to come up with package tickets, especially for events. For example, KTM Komuter and STAR LRT introduced package tickets for people travelling to the National Sport Complex. KTM Komuter also worked with PUTRA LRT and Park May Bus on a monthly Karib Card season ticket priced at RM 100 and offering unlimited use within certain zones. These integration concepts were further reinforced by advertising and promotion with a joint opening ceremony, press releases, pamphlets, newspaper advertisements, etc.
6.0 IMPACTS OF THE RAIL SERVICES.
Although there has been no specific study on the impact of rail services in KL, general observations indicate positive results. Since the introduction of KTM Komuter 1995, followed by the two LRTs and the ERL, KL's road congestion has not worsened significantly, suggesting that rail-based transit systems have contributed towards helping more people use public transport. Without urban rail services, KL's traffic congestion would be much worse.
The urban rail services have also created a new image for public transport. The earlier perception of public transport based on minibus services has now changed. The inherent safety, punctuality, comfort and cleanliness of rail services have won over many city dwellers as evidenced by the increasing numbers of white-collar workers using them. Passenger demand for quality is also compelling operators to improve.
For example, passengers on the PUTRA LRT and KTM Komuter are now demanding more frequent services during morning peak hours. The operators are studying these demands because new train sets are very expensive and they do not want their investment to be idle during off-peak hours.
The urban rail transit system also has changed passenger culture by educating people to be more time conscious as well as courteous and caring by giving up their seats to pregnant women, pensioners and disabled people. However, there are new problems like vandalism, graffiti, night security, etc., so more education programmes will be required involving cooperation by the general public.
Rail has created a new concept of living in spacious country homes and commuting more than 30 km to and from work. Many property developers have realized this and are building housing and commercial estates along railway lines. Another new business potential is transit advertising. Due to the high visibility of trains and large number of passengers at some stations, many companies now prefer in-train, on-train and station advertising. The KL Monorail went even further by using exclusive advertising to associate certain brand names with certain stations.
Another benefit of railways is technology transfer leading to local job creation in both hardware and software. This is important because it stems the outflow of foreign currency to purchase technology from overseas.
7.0 PROBLEMS FACING THE MASS TRANSIT NETWORK SYSTEM
Although our mass transit network system is relatively young compared to those of developed countries like Hong Kong, UK, Japan and the US, the system should have fared better given its technologically advanced system and infrastructure. Furthermore, the mass transit network system in a glance has not met many of the critical success factors (CSF). In recent years, there had been many complains about the network system for not able to fulfil its role as a main public transport to reduce traffic congestion.
According to the Kuala Lumpur Draft Structure Plan, the optimal usage of the mass transit network system has still to be achieved due to:
- Inadequate interchange facilities at stations including car and motor cycle parking and pedestrian linkages.
This is true because most LRT passengers now were bus commuters who had switched over because of unreliable buses. The LRT service is not popular among drivers mainly because of insufficient parking space at LRT stations and therefore, most of them will park in residential areas and of course, they were being slapped with fines by the local authority or the police.
Furthermore, the parking charges if available at the stations are exorbitant; with some need to pay up till as much as RM5. These events will not encourage any users to return to the mass transit service since the basic neccesity is not even provided to them.
Furthermore, only a few main LRT stations have pedestrian linkages over main roads such as the Kelana Jaya Station which has a pedestrian linkage over the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong. Isn’t it a problem if senior citizens or the disabled have to cross the busy main roads just to get to the stations? Such example is the Taman Bahagia Station which does not have a pedestrian linkage.
- Lack of integration between rail-based stations.
This problem is apparent when commuters have to travel from places to places which is under different rail-based stations. For example, if a commuter from Petaling Jaya area would want to travel to Subang Jaya, there will be no direct route by just using one rail network.
Therefore, the commuter would have to travel to a station which offers a transit station of a different rail network such as KL Sentral or Masjid Jamek Stations and hop on another rail network to proceed to Subang Jaya. Therefore, the objective of public transport which are to be able to provide services which is efficient and convenient is not met.
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poor support services including inadequate feeder bus frequency and service coverage.
The objective of public transport to provide services which is trustworthy, comfortable and widespread is not met because of this factor. Although the train services provided are reliable, but the feeder buses not. The feeder busses are filthy and dirty and are maintained badly and commuters will have a rough ride to the stations and back.
Furthermore, the feeder buses ply a long route in the suburbs for the collection of passengers. As a result, feeder buses are usually late at passengers collection and arriving at the stations. This problem is truly visible especially in the residential areas of Sunway City and Subang Jaya where feeder busses collect passengers to the Kelana Jaya Station. The passengers have to wait up till 15 minutes to catch a feeder bus and sometimes, even longer due to traffic jams.
Furthermore, Klang Valley's rail-based network which is served by commuter trains, light rail transit and a monorail; is 182km with 110 stations and only covers 48% of the area. Therefore, the coverage is not widespread and comprehensive enough to encourage the usage of mass transit as a daily tool of conveyance.
The figure below derived from the KL Draft Strcuture Plan indicates the relative accessibility of bus and rail-based public transport and it is clear that rail-based public transport services are far less accessible than bus services and, consequently, their ability to service patrons in a single trip from origin to destination is very limited. The 2-kilometre radius coverage of the feeder buses that operate from stations is not enough to ensure sufficient accessibility.
Figure 3.1: accessibility of bus and rail-based public transport
Source: KL Draft Structure Plan
8.0 OVERCOMING THE MASS TRANSIT NETWORK SYSTEM PROBLEMS
After much have been said about the woes of the mass transit network system, the Government is now finalising a master plan to restructure the public transport system in the Klang Valley. A committee spearheaded by the Transport Ministry, with the involvement of the Works and Federal Territories ministries, has been given the task of working out a way to effectively implement the plan.
The proposed plan, called the Klang Valley Integrated Public Transport System and Land Use Development Plan, was the result of a study conducted by the Federal Territory and Klang Valley Development Division of the Prime Minister's Department since 2001 Which will see a 500km rail-based transit network being built in the country's most developed region.
The network, which should be fully developed by 2020, promises to address many longstanding problems faced by public transport users such as poor connectivity between different train services, unreliable feeder bus services and the lack of a common ticket for all systems.
It would have 380 stations compared to the current 110 stations including PUTRA and STAR LRT, monorail and commuter trains stations, which would place most residents within easy reach of public transport.
Among the measures to be taken to improve public transport according to the proposed plan are:
- Integrating the different systems with walkways and escalators
- Introducing a common ticket
- Changing legislation to provide for an urban transport authority.
- The proposed rail-network would comprise of rail transit lines that would run from suburban areas into the city centre.
- The network lines would have branch lines outside the city centre to provide greater area coverage.
- Each line would not be more than 6km apart while stations on new lines would be placed between 800m to 1km apart.
- The plan would also reorganise the bus system by creating regional and feeder buses.
- Regional buses would serve people without access to rail-based transit, while feeder buses would cover an area within 3km from a railway or light rail transit station.
Futhermore, the Government had started to draft a Bill according to measure d. to enable the setting up of the Urban Transportation Authority, which would place enforcement and monitoring activities under a central body. The effort of creating the Klang Valley Public Transport Authority which would come under the Prime Minister's Department is important because the authority would take over ownership of all buses, trains and stations in the Klang Valley. Currently, LRTs, monorail and buses are running in tandem and complementing each other and this apparently is not going very well as discussions between the three parties involved are lengthy and sometimes difficult based on who should be in control.
9.0 CONCLUSION
Hopefully, with this new plan, the public transport system in Kuala Lumpur will be in line with the city's pursuit to be a world-class city at the same time eliminating the current problems and woes faced by the public transportation users and encouraging the use of public transportation to reduce traffic congestion.
At the end of the day, a good public transport system can never be profit-motivated. Its primary purpose will be to move a huge number of people, between home and work every day in a simple and cheap manner. Congestion and delays cost a huge amount of money in lost revenue and fuel wastage. This is the hidden profit to the Government, not merely the profit-and-loss of the company running it.
Therefore, the three main objectives of public transport which are to be able to provide services that is convenient and comfortable, widespread and profitable and trustworthy and efficient should be fulfilled if the Government were to make its mass transit network services the main public transportation.
10.0 COMPARISON WITH HONG KONG MASS TRANSIT NETWORK SYSTEM
The city of Hong Kong has a population of 6.7 million and spreads out over Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Hong Kong Island is dominated by steep, hilly terrain, which makes it the home of some rather unusual methods of transport up and down the slopes. As public transport is well-developed, the rate of car ownership is fairly low. Hong Kong has a metro system, owned and managed by the Mass Transit Railway. Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) operates the extensive train network. Hong Kong Tramways run a tram system with double-decker vehicles. Peak Tram (a cable car on rails) operates between Central and Victoria Peak. There is a light railway system, The Light Rail Transit (LRT), within the northwest New Territories (comprising the northern part of the Kowloon peninsula and Hong Kong's outlying islands).
10.1 Hong Kong Mass Transit System.
Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTR) is the city’s metro-railway provider. With more than 2.4 million passengers using the system every day — Hong Kong’s MTR is one of the world’s largest. The first Hong Kong mass transit system was completed in 1974. It had three lines; one along the north shore of Hong Kong Island and two crossing Hong Kong harbour to serve Kowloon on the mainland. When a new airport was built 30km west of Lantau Island during the 1990s, this metro system was expanded. The current metro line has 49 stations (33 underground), runs a length of 87.7km with 2.3 million passengers daily.
During 2002, MTR Corporation completed a new 12.5km six-station branch called the Tseung Kwan O Line, running between Lam Tin and Po Lam. A branch from Tseung Kwan O to Tseung Kwan O South will be added to the Tseung Kwan O Line by 2004. Along the Tung Chung Line (running between Tung Chung and Hong Kong Island) a new station, Nam Cheong, is under construction to provide cross-platform interchange with KCRC West Rail.
Planned for construction are a western extension of the Island Line from Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town and an extension of the North Island Line west from North Point along reclaimed harbour land at Wanchai and Central. A further extension of the North Island Line will run from North Point - Victoria Park - HKCEC (Hong Kong Conventino and Exhibition Centre) - Hong Kong. MTR Corporation is currently undergoing studies to link the South Island Line and West Island Line.
The East Kowloon Line, running from Tai Wai to Central West will be built by KCRC instead of MTR Corporation. This route will be built underground for 17km (ten stations, which includes the fourth harbour crossing) with an overground section called Ma On Shan East Rail Extension. This project is currently in progress.
10.2 Problems Faced by Hong Kong Mass Transit Railways.
With 2.4 million passengers daily, Hong Kong's mass transit railway system is one of the worlds largest. Although its physical infrastructure grew at an astounding pace—MTR’s information infrastructure failed to keep up the pace. Over the years it evolved a series of custom-designed computer systems applications designed to meet specific functional needs but not designed to stretch across organizational silos.
10.3 Solutions To The Problems.
In the fourth quarter of 1997, Accenture was asked to evaluate the company’s IT and, as part of that, was tasked to implement the Finance, Logistics and Maintenance System for the railway. The target for the rollout of the new system: September 1999. Accenture created a seamless operating model between software vendors and the existing legacy systems that were being retained. The new system architecture was successfully implemented and according to MTR, “With Accenture’s help, they have developed a rational, coherent IT capability across our finance, logistics and maintenance functions. And by adopting the ‘package’ approach, we saved significant resources compared with doing it all in-house.” The railway needed to evolve its Information Technology (IT) from soiled legacy systems into one that was enterprise wide.
10.4 Effectiveness of The Hong Kong Mass Transit VS Malaysia Mass Transit Network.
In Hong Kong, Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is more reliable compared to other modes of public transport. They are unaffected by traffic or weather conditions and run 19 hours a day, 7 days a week, from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00a.m. However,
Malaysians tend to use public bus and taxi to travel around as these types of public transport are available any where any time. Services in Malaysia like Putra LRT only in run between 06:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Users of the Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railways (MTR) will feel safe as security has been MTR main concern.
MTR is using an advanced train control and signaling system maintains and ensures there is always a safe distance between trains. Malaysia’s Mass Transit also adopts similar technologies like in Putra LRT and the KL Monorail.
They have also installed a sensitive fire alarm system and adopted non-combustible materials to avoid users exposed to fire hazards. Besides that, MTR’s users can simply relax as the train will depart just as they walk onto a platform. The high frequency of the mass transit reduce the waiting time to only 2 to 3 minutes during peak hours on the Tsuen Wan Line, Kwun Tong Line, Island Line, and Tseung Kwan O Line and 4 to 5 minutes on the Tung Chung Line. The service frequency in Malaysia Putra LRT is between 2.9 and 3.3 minutes during peak hours and between 5 and 10 minutes at other times.
All MRT’s trains and underground stations are air-conditioned and kept clean at all time to provide Hong Kong people with a relaxed travel environment. It is especially important during Hong Kong's hot, humid summer months. Malaysia Mass Transit also provide Malaysians travel experience as pleasant as possible as we also have air-conditioned facility and clean surrounding of all station.
MTR has always been upgrading and maintaining its service. With completion in September 2001, the $1.2 billion Passenger Train Modernisation Programme has brought the whole fleet of 95 modernised trains into service. The trains have been equipped with improved air conditioning and ventilation, enhanced lighting, electronic passenger information, new flooring, new interior finishes and better facilities for wheelchair passengers. Existing seats, signage, straphangers, grab poles and cab front are all replaced with improved designs. Consequently, Upgraded trains have been added to the fleet to bring more comfort and convenience to MTR passengers. However, Malaysia still has not practice Passenger Train Modernisation Programme as we just using the technology of Mass Transit.
To ensure maximum convenience to MTR’s users, stations are located in the busiest areas of Hong Kong, all equipped with multiple, clearly identified exits. For easy access, all platforms are linked to the concourses by escalators. Kiosks, selling books, magazines, cakes, cosmetics, jewelry, and many other products, as well as minibanks inside our stations can serve the public’s daily needs. Malaysia also has similar facilities.
Riding on the MTR, users can enjoy a trackside view of the latest in sound and motion advertising. Selective trackside advertising panels located at the platforms of major MTR stations were converted into moving picture screens. Loudspeakers installed above the platforms directly opposite the screens provide for sound, allowing passengers to hear the action unfolding in front of them.
Besides that, passengers can find out the day's weather forecast, get the news headlines of the hour and stock market performance as well as find out how their favourite team played by turning to InfoPanels in modernised MTR trains which are adding more spice and more fun to MTR journeys. The information is presented in a colourful and creative format. Indications of the next MTR station are also helpful to passengers with hearing impairment. Unfortunately, Malaysians still cannot enjoy this type of facilities in Putra LRT, Star or Monorail.
MTR is in the process of installing iCentres to provide free Internet access services within the MTR network. Each iCentre will feature several computer terminals offering passengers free broadband navigation on the world-wide-web. Passengers can check and send web-based e-mails and surf the Internet for information on dining and entertainment hotspots near to MTR stations. Hopefully, mass transit of Malaysia will provide our passengers with a more convenient and enjoyable journey.
Besides that, 3 publications are distributed free of charge in all MTR stations for users of MTR such as "Metro" daily newspaper, "Hui Kai Guide" infotainment magazine and "Jiu Jik" recruitment magazine while Malaysians will get “The Sun” free at all mass transit station.
Finally, Octopus is the electronic ticketing system that makes travelling in Hong Kong simple and hassle-free. Each Octopus card contains a built-in microchip containing all your fare information. You can simply pass the ticket gates with a simple "touch & go" of your Octopus card. Four types of Octopus card are designed for adults, elderly, students and children. The versatile Octopus cards can be used on multiple modes of transport; MTR, Airport Express, KCR East Rail & Light Rail, buses, ferries etc, saving you the trouble of preparing for the coins.
As is often the case nowadays, Malaysians also can buy your ticket from an automat; indeed, they cannot even buy a single ticket from a person. They walk up to the machine, look at the interactive map, put their finger on their destination, the machine displays the fare, they insert the fare, and the machine prints the ticket and dispenses their change if they have anything coming.
10.5 CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway and Malaysia’s Mass Transit have some similarity in term of technology and facilities. However, Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway is more advanced than Malaysia’s Mass Transit as they had started very early in the late 60's. Effectiveness of Malaysia’s Mass Transit can be improved gradually and hopefully they can be as good as Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway.
APPENDIX
Map showing Hong Kong mass transit routes.
Source: www.mtr.com.hk
REFERENCES
Books
Charles Hirschman and Suan-Pow Yeoh. 1979. Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science 7(October):119
Internet
http://www.mtr.com.hk
http://www.theskytrain.net
http://www.urbanrail.com
http://www.urbantransport-technology.com
Newspaper
The Star, July 27th 2004
The Star, June 30th 2004
Charles Hirschman and Suan-Pow Yeoh. 1979. Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science 7(October):119
Kuala Lumpur Draft Strcuture Plan
http://www.stesensentral.com/integ_rail/erl/
http://www.stesensentral.com/integ_rail/erl/
www.urbantransport-technology.com
www.urbantransport-technology.com
