By Sharen Kaur
Published NST, March 25, 2016
KUALA LUMPUR: THE proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for the Federal Highway, the busiest highway in the Klang Valley during rush hour, is bound to change travel patterns once it is completed.
Prasarana Malaysia Bhd president and group chief executive officer Datuk Azmi Abdul Aziz said BRT would see a dedicated lane for buses on the Federal Highway, with special dividers separating it from being used by other vehicles.
"We have seen how congested the Federal Highway gets during peak hours. We have identified the pattern. If we didn't do anything about it, the Federal Highway would be one huge car park," the 56-year-old Azmi said in an exclusive interview with the New Straits Times Press.
Azmi, who joined Prasarana on Jan 1 last year, said a working paper on the proposal had been presented to the government, based on the system in Turkey.
"We learned a lot from Istanbul, which has the same route as our Federal Highway. During peak hours, the bus frequency there is (one) every 30 seconds. They ferry 600,000 passengers a day.
"There may be traffic congestion, but the buses still move fast. It also allows areas outside Istanbul to be developed," said Azmi, who has more than 30 years' experience in the public transport industry.
He said an efficient bus system would boost people's confidence in using public transport as an alternative to driving their own cars.
"In the beginning, of course, people will complain about the construction that has to be done, but when it is completed, there will be the 'wow' factor. The Federal Highway will be different and will change travel patterns."
He said the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) would issue the request for proposals soon, and it would take up to two years to complete.
Azmi is optimistic about meeting the 40 per cent target for public transport use in the Klang Valley by 2030, reducing the number of cars on the road from the current 80 per cent to 60 per cent.
"The government has made it very clear that by 2030, there will be a 40 per cent usage of public transport and 60 per cent (usage of) private vehicles. But to reach this, we have to start planning from where we are today. I think we can do better," said Azmi, who previously served as chief development officer at SPAD for more than three years.
He said people could still drive their cars if they wanted to, but they would have to park the vehicles at designated facilities and use public transport to continue their journey.
"If we allow cities to be congested, (the city) will choke itself to death. It will be a losing proposition for everybody. We can do changes now. We are in the right position and the timing is right to start planning now."
Prasarana achieved one million in daily ridership in January, covering the Kelana Jaya and Ampang light rail transit (LRT) lines, monorail line and RapidKL bus services.
Azmi said this was a milestone in the country's efforts to improve the public transport sector.
"It's not just about improving public transport, but providing a reliable service and convenience to users."
Today, Prasarana operates the Kelana Jaya and Ampang LRT lines and the KL monorail, as well as bus services in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kuantan and Kamunting. It also has subsidiaries responsible for generating non-fare revenue through advertisements and property projects in the form of transit-oriented developments (TODs).
"Outside Malaysia, we have a company responsible for our operations in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where we operate Metro lines during the haj season. We also have a smaller contract for Mecca Metro as a shadow operator and are in the final stage of bidding as a shadow operator for Jeddah Metro," said Azmi, who helped formulate the National Land Public Transport Master Plan.
He said Prasarana, the largest public transport operator in the Klang Valley, planned to develop TODs at 10 sites along the Kelana Jaya and Ampang LRT lines.
"We are building, at Dang Wangi, high-rise structures on top of the station. When completed, there will be offices, residential (units) and retail outlets, and that will make the area vibrant. The same goes for other areas that we are developing, such as Brickfields, Ara Damansara and Glenmarie."
Q: How has progress been for Prasarana?
A: Prasarana was incorporated in 1998, but became operational in 2002 when the government decided to take over the assets of Star LRT and Putra LRT, the two companies that developed and built the two light rail transit (LRT) lines on a privatisation basis.
Two years after the 1997/98 financial crisis, there were some financial difficulties, and the government decided to take over the two lines for the benefit of the people. In 2004, the government decided to take over the assets of two bus companies - Intrakota and Park May - that served Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley. That was when RapidKL was formed. Prasarana became the asset owner, and RapidKL, the operator, for rail and bus transport.
We continued the journey, and in 2009, there was an effort to merge both entities to streamline operations, and also, create better efficiency in the services offered to the public.
Q: How did Prasarana grow to become a larger entity? What are the major task points that the company has achieved?
A: The formation of Prasarana as a larger entity started in 2010 with the creation of several subsidiaries. As we continued the journey until 2014, we established new subsidiaries.
Today, we have Rapid Rail, the operator of rail services, and Rapid Bus, the operator of buses in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Kuantan, and more recently, Kamunting, which serves the Taiping area and links up to Butterworth.
Then, we have PRIDE (Prasarana Integrated Development Sdn Bhd),which is responsible for generating non-fare revenue within Prasarana, including advertising at stations. Any advertisements and retail activities within our premises are managed by PRIDE, and that's where they generate financial income, apart from non-fare revenue.
Then, we have PRIME (Prasarana Integrated Management and Engineering Services Sdn Bhd), which is responsible for generating non-fare revenue outside the group and also outside Malaysia. PRIME is right now responsible for our operations in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where we operate Metro lines during the haj season.
PRIME also has a smaller contract for Mecca Metro as a shadow operator. It is in the final stage of bidding as a shadow operator for Jeddah Metro.
Another subsidiary is called PRAISE (Prasarana Rail and Infrastructure Projects Sdn Bhd), which is our project development company. PRAISE is responsible for managing LRT line extension projects and the upcoming LRT3 development.
Q: At what stage of growth is Prasarana today?
A: From when Prasarana was formed until 2009 is considered the infancy stage because restructuring was going on then and we were putting everything together. From 2010 to 2014, we term it as the "formative phase", where we put all the subsidiaries and created clear responsibilities to help support the group.
From last year to 2020 is the transformative phase. This is where we start to transform Prasarana according to its vision, which is to be a world-class integrated public transport provider. That is the reason we ventured overseas, for our services to be recognised as world-class. This is our current journey.
Q: In terms of numbers, could you share with us some figures?
A: Passenger growth is currently about two per cent every year. One of the key milestones is ridership. We have passed the one million ridership per day (mark) in our rail and bus services.
Q: When did Prasarana pass the one million mark?
A: In January this year, before Chinese New Year. Now, we plan to pass the 1.5 million mark by the middle of next year. This will be helped by the LRT line extensions and Mass Rapid Transit 1 (MRT 1).
Q: Is Prasarana happy with the two per cent passenger growth?
A: We are not happy, looking at Prasarana's purpose, which is to promote public transport and achieve the 40 per cent modal share of public transport by 2030. The government has made it very clear that by 2030, there will be a 40 per cent usage of public transport and 60 per cent (usage of) private vehicles. But to reach this, we have to start planning from where we are today. I think we can do better. We expect that the LRT line extensions, upgrading of the monorail system and MRT 1 will contribute to passenger growth.
Q: What is the ratio between public and private transport?
A: Public transport is currently at about 20 to 25 per cent. The rest is private vehicles.
Q: What about in developed countries?
A: In Hong Kong, it's 80 per cent public transport. Singapore is between 60 and 70 per cent. But, they embarked on their journey very much earlier. So, if you are to compare us with them, we should consider when we started our journey. But, it is also not a very good comparison because they are island-based, while we are not. In terms of opportunity on how to decongest certain congested areas, we are in a better position.
Q: For the current public transport ratio, is it just in the Klang Valley or nationwide?
A: It is nationwide. But for the Klang Valley, there is a 40 per cent target. There is a target, too, for Greater KL.
And to reach that target, what do we need to do?
In our case, when we plan for the LRT3 and the Kelana Jaya and Ampang line extensions, it's about creating more parking facilities outside congested areas, meaning, in suburban areas. What we are saying is, you can still drive your cars, but park them at these facilities and take the LRT to go to congested areas. You can save yourselves the hassle of driving.
Q: Just like in London?
A: Yes, the same thing. We are following that. But, we can do it faster if we have proper or more robust integrated planning. To do this, local authorities should make parking difficult, as it would discourage people from driving. People can drive their cars if they still want to, but park them at the facilities and use public transport to continue their journey. If we allow cities to be congested, (the city) will choke itself to death. It will be a losing proposition for everybody. We can do changes now. We are in the right position and the timing is right to start planning now.
Q: How are you planning the LRT3?
A: I am promoting an idea that understands the needs of future users. If I plan a new line based on my thinking, it will be obsolete before it's completed. The users will be the younger group of our population. If we don't understand their needs and the way they think about how to be mobile, then, we will be planning something else and not serving our purpose. We will not be able to embrace the infrastructure that will influence their lifestyle.
So, understanding Gen Y is what we are doing for the LRT3 - also, the existing lines, monorail and MRT. That is why I always challenge my team to understand Gen Y and how to get this group of people for our services.
Q: Why Gen Y?
A: Gen Y is one of the generations. They are the offspring of the baby boomers. Under Gen Y, there is a sub-group called "Yuccies", also known as young urban creatives. They are not the offspring (of an earlier generation), but are a splinter group. You had the yuppies from those days, you have the hipsters, and then, from Gen Y, you have the Yuccies.
Yuccies are basically young people. What we understand is that, they don't want to go through the trouble of driving everywhere. They like the comfort of having time to themselves. They love to be attached to their gadgets and they love to socialise in areas where it would not be difficult for them to move around.
So, if we create that opportunity and environment in terms of planning our new lines, then, we will be able to capture them. They will push themselves to stay near the infrastructure. And for us, investment in the infrastructure will be meaningful because it is being accepted by future users.
For Prasarana, which has over 8,000 employees, going on 10,000, if we don't think of ways to reinvent ourselves to be relevant to the business and industry, then, nobody will care about us.
If you are doing the business full of oneself, what is the purpose? You don't have the sense of pride of doing that. But if you do something that people love, we are motivated to contribute more.
This is a challenge that I've put to the team, saying as we grow bigger, and if we do not prepare ourselves, we can sink faster. But if we prepare ourselves to be dynamic, to be able to think out of the box, and to plan and understand future needs, then, we will be able to keep ourselves afloat and continue to have a smooth ride.
Q: Does Prasarana have the right policy to encourage people to use public transport?
A: Yes, we do. In our mission, we have a set of five values that we are looking at, that is, reliable, affordable, proficient, integrated and dynamic.
Q: What are these values?
A: Reliable is about reliability in services. Internally, we have set key performance indicators. For rail, the service reliability should be 99.7 per cent, while for bus, it should be 95 per cent, and we hope to achieve these targets. That is a good benchmark and it's comparable to the world standard. We are trying to push ourselves to be recognised as a world-class transport provider.
In terms of being affordable, we know we are not supposed to be making too big a profit, but as a company, we need that profit, too. It is about focusing on services to the public and making sure that whatever fare structure we are putting out is something that is acceptable and affordable. That is why we do not increase bus fares. Only rail fares were recently increased, and this was also after a long period of 14 years, when there had been no review. Even then, it's not a direct fare increase. It's more on revamping the formula, so that we can standardise between the three lines. The two LRT lines and monorail, when they first started - the formula was very different then.
Today, the fare is more distance-based, but on top of that, we provide discounts. If you use cash, it's a bit high, but when you use Touch 'n Go or our own MyRapid product, you will enjoy a more than 20 per cent discount. Today, we see a lot of students, for example, queuing up and applying for the card, which is good. This means that a lot of people are migrating towards cashless products. Just like the Oyster (card) in London and the Octopus (card) in Hong Kong.
Q: Affordable and proficient are understood, but what about integrated?
A: For example, Masjid Jamek Station. When you want to change lines, you have to cross the road, and sometimes, it's raining. Today, it is all in one plaza.
Another example is Hang Tuah Station, where the LRT and monorail are integrated into one. It's a paid-to-paid service, where you don't have to exit and "touch out", and re-enter the other line. You just have to cross the line and continue your journey, and then, you exit. That is what we call "fare integration". This same concept will apply to the MRT once it starts its operations. The hassle of "touch in" and "touch out" is no longer there. It's seamless.
Q: And dynamic?
A: Dynamic means we cannot do things as they are today. We must always improve. That is why we benchmark ourselves with world class. I don't want the group to be comfortable in what they are doing today. When there is complacency in this industry, we are doomed. We must get ourselves out of that comfort zone, so we know what's the challenge out there. Otherwise, it is difficult to push the efficiency level. It would be difficult to meet the demands of the public.
What we understand from other cities, from their expertise, is that, the public there is without mercy. They will push and demand because they have ownership. We want the public to say the infrastructure is part of them. It's affecting their lifestyle. Because of that, we have to respond to the needs of the public, and to do that, we must always engage with the public to understand what it is that they want.
Q: Who are you benchmarking against?
A: We are benchmarking our rail and bus services against international standards, other cities around the world. For rail, we benchmark ourselves against two related international bodies, which are the Community of Metros (CoMET) and NOVA Group of metros. We provide our data of services to them, they churn up everything, and then, they tabulate back where we are in terms of world standing. For buses, we refer to the International Bus Benchmarking Group. This is being coordinated by Imperial College London. Again, we give our data to them, they churn it out and we can see where we are. From there, we know what and how to push ourselves up and in which areas.
Q: Are there plans to make the LRT available nationwide?
A: There is no immediate plan for that. There is the National Land Public Transport Master Plan, and the local government must work with it. This is about understanding where the new growth areas are or the locations identified for new developments, and how we could rejuvenate an area with the development of public transport.
Once you have a plan, you can project the numbers and (determine) whether it is feasible and viable to undertake a new LRT line. You need the demand numbers. Also, it cannot be fragmented planning. It has to be an integrated plan.
Q: What do you mean by fragmented planning?
A: I have always promoted ideas where key authorities should sit down together and have an integrated plan for public transport. One approach is whether we can quickly promote the idea of transit-oriented development, which would create job opportunities and revenue for the government.
