Bus terminal fiasco a crying shame

MALAYSIANS often complain that the public transport service in Malaysia is a joke. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has tasked Syed Hamid Albar, chairman of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), with the job of drawing up a 20-year masterplan to ensure that real improvements are made to the way the government delivers on its commitments, including public transport.

Unfortunately, it seems that some people in the various branches of the government have still not got the message.

The issues surrounding the Integrated Transport Terminal at Bandar Tasik Selatan (officially called Terminal Bersepadu Selatan Bandar Tasik Selatan or TBS-BTS) have been a collective embarrassment for the government on public transport – clearly the last thing that Najib needs to be dealing with.

To summarise the issue: the building is ready, and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had approved the start of the bus operations on Jan 1, 2011. The terminal’s operator, Maju TMAS (Terminal Management and Services), had already opened the terminal to the public in December and invited 190 bus operators to move in (only 10 agreed to do so).

However, Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry has issued a directive that the terminal should commence operations on Feb 2 – the same day that Puduraya (which is currently being refurbished) was expected to reopen. The Puduraya project should have been completed by the end of 2010, but was delayed. The one-month extension would have helped ensure that both terminals would be ready together.

To make the story even stranger, the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) has directed bus operators to shift to the new terminal by Jan 1. This directive came in the form of a memorandum sent by fax on Dec 30, 2010.

In response, the bus operators claimed that the directive gave them too short a notice. They also claimed they have to bear the additional costs of moving into the terminal and threatened to impose a surcharge on fares.

Worst of all, Ashfar Ali of the Pan Malaysian Bus Operators’ Association has said that the high-tech centralised ticketing system will cost passengers more and will not stop touting.

A simple story

And if this was not strange enough, members of Umno and PKR were present together at a demonstration complaining that the residents of the area have not been given access to the retail lots in the terminal and the leasing costs are too high.

It should have been a simple story – the TBS-BTS is up and running and bus operations should commence on time. What happened instead goes to prove that the Malaysian government can build great infrastructure but cannot manage and deliver a project properly.

It appears that all the stakeholders cannot even clearly answer the all-important question: Who is in charge? Instead of resolving the issue through communication and discussion, they take everything to the media, generating confusion and embarrassment once again.

Sadly, the Malaysian press does not help much. It appears that the newspapers simply reported the information from the TMAS briefing verbatim, and did not even bother to ask simple questions like “does this high-tech bus terminal have a website and phone number?” or “how can the public get information about bus services in advance, so that they do not come to the terminal and fall prey to touts?”

The people cannot be faulted for thinking to themselves, “If our government agencies cannot manage the delivery of one bus terminal properly, how can they operate the RM36 billion MRT network?”

Disband CVLB

Malaysians should be disappointed. The “jokers” in the various government agencies should be ashamed. Najib should be furious.

And CVLB chairman Halimah Sadique should resign. She publicly criticised her own CVLB director, Naimah Ramli, because buses were still at Bukit Jalil and had not moved to the new terminal yet, saying “I had expected all of them (bus operators) to move in by today (Jan 1). Do you know the people are miserable at Bukit Jalil?”

Halimah should know that commuters who used public transport have been miserable since 1987 when the CVLB was established. In her one and a half years with CVLB, Halimah has accomplished little to reduce that misery. Despite multiple fare increases, bus service has not improved in terms of quality or safety.

By publicly criticising her own director, Halimah has made it clear that she is not in control of the CVLB, and should therefore step down and let someone else take charge. More importantly, the CVLB should be disbanded and replaced by SPAD immediately.

Moaz Yusuf Ahmad is the adviser for the Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit.