Quoting the news from Bernama by Voon Miaw Ping, dated 21 August 08:
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (Bernama) — Setting aside protocol, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took rides on the commuter and LRT rail services from Serdang to the city centre Thursday to get a feel of the transportation problems faced by the public and came away less than satisfied.
Throughout the one-hour journey, during which he switched trains, the prime minister noted the congestion, especially during the peak period, and spoke to his fellow passengers to get their feedback.
Speaking to Bernama after disembarking at the Masjid Jamek LRT station, he said he was not satisfied with the rail services and wanted immediate improvements to be made.
He said the existing services were not systematic, there were not enough coaches and coverage was not comprehensive, leaving many areas not serviced.
“I just saw the plight of people using the trains to get to work every morning. They were jostling to get on board every time a train arrived. There appeared to be no system.
“I’m not happy with this because the people are not getting satisfaction from riding the trains. This we must fix,” he said.
“I found the trains really packed with so many passengers. Some had waited for three trains and yet could not board.
“There’s no queue. People push their way in, women with children and old people are pushed aside,” he added.
Abdullah, who was not accompanied by any officials from the two rail services, arrived at the Serdang Komuter KTM station at 8.15am but could not get on board the first train that arrived because it was packed.
He got on the next train which arrived 15 minutes later and headed for KL Sentral, the modern transportation hub for the various rail services.
There he also had to wait a while to switch to the Putra LRT service to get to the Masjid Jamek station because again, the first train to arrive was full.
On both the trains that he took, the prime minister, dressed in a red batik shirt with golden print, had to stand although the passengers offered him their seats.
Upon arrival at the Masjid Jamek station at 9.15am, he chatted with members of the the public and bought several types of local cakes from the sellers there before leaving.
Abdullah said he would give attention to efforts to improve the quality of both rail services.
He said trains that were not punctual and people scrambling to get into the trains caused problems to other passengers.
Immediate steps would be taken including improving the train schedules, having a more systematic system and giving attention to senior citizens and women with children.
“There were many more suggestions given me by the passengers for my attention. I will strive for improvements, I will propose changes,” he said.
The public transportation woes have been there before Abdullah became our PM. It has been 5 years since he took over as our PM and it seems that only now he realises that poor state of our public transportation. Why took him so long to start looking into the problem?
Newspapers have frequent reporting on the transportation problems in our country and Abdullah appeared to know nothing about the problems suffered by the people. Didn’t he read newspaper or any of his officers inform him about this matter?
Another question would be what had the previous transport minister done to improve on the poor state of public transportation?
Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Singapore has already started to construct another 4 MRT lines (Circle Line, Downtown Line, Thomson Line and Eastern Region Line) in addition to the 3 existing lines to cater for the projected demand in year 2020!
It was a failure if this was an attempt by Pak Lah to gain popularity and support from the people…
By the way, since Pak Lah was at Masjid Jamek station, he should have also visited Pudu Bus Terminal which is in dire state for upgrade…
Wake up LAH, Pak LAH! Adooh… Our Gomen
