KUALA LUMPUR: The Transport Ministry is targeting an increase in ridership on the KTM Komuter service from 90,000 a day to 108,000, with the introduction of the KTM Xtra20 discount card.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said an additional 20% of passenger ridership was targeted for the year 2020, which is projected to be as many as 130,000 riders a day, consistently.
“The government has allocated RM34 million for the Xtra20 discount card through the Railway Assets Corporation for this initiative, and to help the people save costs effectively,“ he said at the launch of the Xtra20 discount card at KL Sentral today.
He noted that the KTM ridership at its peak in 2015 was about 50 million riders, or about 136,000 riders per day.
However, that figure dropped to 32 million in 2018 due to the emergence of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT line and the Klang Valley Double Track repairs, causing the trains to be infrequent and passengers were late as a result.
To counter this, Loke said the KTM Komuter will have its On Time Performance monitored by KTM Berhad and himself on a monthly basis.
He also said there are 40,000 Xtra discount cards up for grabs for free, and subsequent cards will be charged RM3.
The card is available for all Malaysians aged between 13 and 59 years old.
On another matter, Loke said the Road Transport Department regulations will be amended so that disabled drivers can continue to work for e-hailing companies.
Currently, regulations prohibit disabled drivers from obtaining public service vehicle licences, which will be made compulsory for e-hailing drivers to obtain come July.
“We support their right to be e-hailing drivers so that they can work on their own and gain income,“ he said at a press conference after the discount card’s launch.
