DBKL plans to introduce 'smaller' GoKL buses in congested areas

The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) plans to introduce the GoKL free bus service for ease of movement, especially in suburban areas that are congested and have smaller roads.

Kuala Lumpur mayor Mahadi Che Ngah, however, said the buses would be much smaller in size because in some places, especially the residential areas the roads are narrow and collisions may occur.

“The roads in residential areas are not the same as those in the city centre which are wider, there are some intersections that are quite difficult for the GoKL buses to pass through and this will cause a delay to reach a destination,” he told reporters after a trial run on GoKL free bus service new routes, namely Taman Fadason-MRT Sri Delima Line and the Jinjang-Matrade MRT Line today.

He said the matter would be discussed with the bus suppliers to determine its suitability, adding that at the moment, GoKL buses are 13 and 10 metres long.

Meanwhile, Mahadi said with the two new routes, the GoKL free bus service now operates on 13 routes and it is targeting to cater to 20,000 passengers per day for each route.

He said a total of 7.8 million passengers used GoKL free bus service from January to November this year.

On the proposal to impose charges on foreigners who use the GoKL free bus service, Mahadi said the matter is still under discussion and several improvements need to be done before it can be implemented.

He said it includes finalising appropriate fares, gadget facilities on buses and other appropriate mechanisms.

Last August, former deputy federal territories minister Jalaluddin Alias was reported to have said that 45.2 per cent of GoKL free bus service users were foreigners and did not rule out the possibility of imposing fees on them in the future.

- Bernama