I AM a long-term visitor to Malaysia and recently came across “Feeder buses poser” (On the Other Hand, Jan 7). I must agree wholeheartedly about the comments.
I am very impressed with the MRT system and use it a lot. It is an excellent way of getting into the city.
However the feeder buses are letting the system down. For example, I have waited for up to half an hour for a bus from Bangsar to Mid Valley. I have stood waiting while up to three buses, all due to go to Mid Valley were parked. When I asked the driver in the first bus, why I could not get on the bus and wait and, why more than one bus was waiting, his reply was something about policy and not time to go yet!
I once took the MRT from Mid Valley to Surian station, a journey of about 15 minutes or so. I then had a long walk to where two buses, for the same route, were parked. Despite the fact that a number of other passengers had got onboard the bus, it did not move for another 15 minutes.
I then had a 25-minute bus ride to my home stop. Why must this be? It would have been quicker to use a car door to door.
Surely the point about feeder buses, is just that, they are there to “feed” people to and from the MRT quickly. That is their only function. In my opinion there should be no timetable for a feeder bus. They should be on a particular route constantly, picking up and taking home passengers.
There should never be more than one bus at the MRT station. Once another bus arrives, the first bus should be on its way around its route picking up passengers.
Until the authorities realise that it is important to get people from a particular area onto the MRT quickly, via the many buses they have available, potential passengers will continue to use their cars. That would be such a pity and a waste of an excellent MRT system.
GP Schofield
