Article posted on a KL environmental watchgroup online forum sometime in the fall of 2000, in response to a plea for ideas and solutions to KL traffic woes
Our current approach to resolving the traffic congestion problems in KL is driven by 2 elements:1. Attack the symptoms (hey, if there's a lot more cars on the road, we should build a lot more roads right?) 2. Let's make some money doing it (If Renong can do it with the North South highway, why can't we?)
Hence the flurry of toll highway projects, and the creation of a business culture based on a toll-gate mentality (water, sewage, LRT projects are all also built on this business culture - get the concession first and then charge consumers an arm and a leg for it).
Lest I sound like just a whinger, let me propose an action plan: Attack the root cause, not the symptom.
The root cause of traffic congestion, I contend, is the lack of alternative transport. Hey, I used to live in Ulu Klang, and I wanna get to Bukit Bintang. Sorry friend, LRT does not serve Bukit Bintang (yet its the most popular shopping area!). We don't need more roads, we need more LRT stops at the relevant places. C'mon, it does not require Einstein to figure out we need an LRT stop at Bukit Bintang, unless we're trying to change decades old pattern of KL residents behaviour. So the net result: streams of cars containing only one passenger i.e. the driver heading in and out of KL, day in, day out.
The problem is a comprehensive MRT/LRT network costs a lot of money. So if you notice, we took the cheap way out and built along ex-railway land. Cheap methods yield cheap results (all you architects out there will agree). And Star-LRT has the temerity to wonder aloud why passenger traffic levels are not what they forecasted! (Kawan, your routes do not go anywhere useful, duh!).
So, Action Step 1 : Build a comprehensive MRT/LRT network
Let's lay down one inalienable fact. Passenger transport systems are NOT profitable. Whether its Japanese bullet trains or London Underground, other countries' experience tells us that the private sector ain't gonna make money out of this. (So why is Putra, Star-LRT, PLRT in this business in the first place? - well, as I said, it's a concession driven business culture, therefore, get the concession first, spend some arm-twisted banker's money on lucrative procurement contracts second, and then worry about the operations last).
So whaddawe do? Hate to say this folks, but we gotta spend some taxpayer's money. We've got to give Putra and Star a subsidy to operate the existing network. They're both head over heels in the red, and eventhough the systems ain't ideal, we have to save it. Either taxpayers pay off their construction loans so that they can at least maintain a profitable operation (the Singapore MRT approach), or we have to give them a subsidy every year to operate those lines (the UK British Rail approach). In return, taxpayers should get full disclosure of operational finances. So:
Action Step 2: Save Putra and Star-LRT
What about PLRT monorail? Well figure out the passenger traffic capacity of those things. If they are as I suspect unable to carry high passenger levels, scrap the whole damn shebang. Right now it's still possible to stop that project, obliterate all those gargantuan landscape blighters (you know those concrete pillar monstrosities in the middle of town which do nothing but advertise Digi phones), and let PLRT figure out how to sort their loans with their bankers. Sorry, no taxpayers money for this one as the usefulness of the project is not proven.
So, Action step 3: Scrap PLRT
So no PLRT means no access to BUkit Bintang and Raja Chulan/Sultan Ismail right? Wrong. Next we need to get a true blue transport specialist to study commuter patterns in the Klang valley area and propose an ideal case (i.e. if we had all the money in the world, this would be the rail routes). Then let's sit down and decide the trade-offs that we will have to make. It will have to involve a lot of tunnelling, which means that a lot of prep work would have to be done beforehand e.g. redirection of sewage tunnels, power lines, telecom lines, etc. Yes, this is the kind of project that separates the men from the boys. And all those urban/city planners will have to get off their comfortable armchairs and get their hands dirty. Let's not kid ourselves - it will cost a lot of $$$$$$$ - but so long as this does not go to private pockets, it's money well worth spending.
And to speed up the process, maybe us concerned citizens can do one thing. Let's get a quotation from several of these transportation specialists as to how much would a comprehensive transportation planning study cost. Then let's approach Petronas to sponsor this plan (or HSBC since their corporate theme is saving the environment) . We then nominate one of our best private sector urban planners to lead the planning process with the chosen transportation specialists.
Once we've got the blueprint, then let's say to the federal government "hiya folks, here's a solution, signed off and approved by us, the Klang valley residents. You wanna one of your cronies to implement it? Fine. We don't mind you spending our taxpayer's money on this, but we know the costings so don't mess around."
So, Action step no. 4 : Get sponsorship of a comprehensive transportation study for the Klang valley.
