Bus companies honk on Najib for aid

Local bus operators have petitioned the Prime Minister for help, pleading for financial deliverance.

PETALING JAYA: Bus companies in Malaysia have come up with a list of demands for the government, with the hope that they will be lifted out of an industry mired in financial difficulty.

In a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association (PMBOA) asked the premier to remember them when the Budget 2013 is tabled in Parliament this September.

Though grateful for the recently approved RM400 million stage bus fund, PMBOA president Ashfar Ali implied that more needed to be done to save the bus industry.

“…the bus industry as a whole still has many problems, especially from a financial point of view. This is because bus entrepreneurs have experienced long-time losses due to the rise of diesel prices and other operational costs,” he said.

(The PMBOA represents 130 bus companies and over 3,200 buses in the country. It is also supported by the Melayu Semenanjung Express Bus Entrepeneurs Association [Pembawa], Nadi Corp, Transnasional [which runs the Cityliner buses] and Park May Berhad.)

The PMBOA’s suggestions include:

• the urgent need for a National Public Transport Masterplan. (The Land Public Transport Commission [SPAD] said last year that this was in the works, but has since gone silent over the plan.)

• increasing bus fares by as much as 30% to 40%.

• raising the road lifespan of express and stage buses by 10 and 15 years respectively.

• easing the hiring process of bus drivers, through interest-free loans for driving lessons, and allowing foreigners to handle buses.

• excluding bus companies from paying 1% from their workers’ salaries to the government’s Human Resource Development Fund.

• the removal of road tax and import duties for bus operators.

• giving incentives such as interest-free loans to encourage operators to buy new buses.

• demanding that the government take over bus terminals. (As an example, the PMBOA said that the privatised Kuching Sentral Terminal added a 7% charge to every bus ticket on the pretext of “better services”. Bus owners are allegedly unable to add these charges to their customers.)

• a total removal of highway toll charges.

• reducing insurance fees. (According to the PMBOA, a 44-seater bus with a coverage of RM400,000 has to pay an annual premium of RM28,516.71.)

• either increasing the monthly diesel subsidy quota (1,440 litres for stage buses and 2,880 for express buses) or lowering the price of diesel.

• removing supposedly stringent loan conditions from SME Bank. (The PMBOA says that only profitable companies with less than 50 workers and a RM5 million annual revenue can apply for the loan.)

• exemption under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

• a reinvestment allowance for the buying of new buses.

• stronger enforcement against illegal buses and “kereta sapu” in East Malaysia, and the freezing of new permits.

He added that the lack of official government policy and the companies’ poor financial standing forced the latter into a rut, leaving more than 20 of them to close shop.

These companies include Foh Hup Omnibus, Len Omnibus, Penang Yellow Bus, Northern Malaya Transport, Ipoh and Rural Bus Services, Chin Wah Omnibus, Lian Hoe Omnibus and Sim Omnibus.

Late last year, Transnational’s Cityliner buses stopped running in Selangor, following the company’s annual RM8 million losses.

With these companies in trouble, many Malaysians have been left without their daily rides and are forced to rely on public transport to get around town.