To encourage ridership on public transport, the government is introducing unlimited ride passes for public bus and rail services beginning 1st January 2019. This could help reduce the living costs of commuters especially those that take multiple MRT and LRT lines daily.
As promised, there will be an RM100 monthly pass which covers train and RapidKL bus services. The government will allocate RM240 million from the 2019 budget to make this possible.
There’s also a cheaper RM50 monthly pass which covers just RapidKL bus services. According to the announcement, this pass will be expanded further to cover other bus services in stages.
Malaysia’s public transportation company, Syarikat Prasarana Berhad, will improve its network of buses by fully utilise and optimising its assets of 1,131 RapidKL buses, 408 RapidPenang buses, 69 RapidKuantan Buses and 300 MRT shuttle buses. They are also looking into partnerships with other private bus companies to manage routes and services, as well as to manage cost in order to maximise the quality and efficiency of public transportation.
The cost reduction of LRT3 and MRT2 is said to be able to improve operational sustainability which can help to reduce fares for the general public. As a result, the government hopes that these initiatives will increase public transport use and reduce the number of cars on the road. On top of that, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will allocate RM20 million to provide more GoKL free bus services in addition to the existing 4 routes.
