I've been relying on KL's less than desired public transportation system, for some time now. For some of you who lives in big cities, you can share in the pain. Amidst the buses, LRTs, commuter railways, taxis or Monorail in KL, its system of interconnecting one another is a fool-hardy effort to say the least; leading to nowhere significant at most times, and is rather time-consuming, if you compare it with your own private vehicle.

 

The cost of utilising these systems is not as cheap either. A return fare compounded with the hassle of waiting for these public transports, squezzing in with the masses, not to mentioned the smelly armpits of many commuters; begs the patience of the mind and the nose. 

 

I'm one of the few blessed individuals who live in Bangsar. The LRT system is nearby, although it is sometimes tough to get there. Anyways, what used to be known at the Putra LRT System, is now under the umbrella of the government-run and owned consortium of RapidKL. The consolidation of KL's two LRT systems, stage buses system and also the feeder bus system. That is about the only good thing about it.

 

This morning, I was caught by surprise, by the amount of people using the public LRT. It was already congested before the fuel hike, but now it is just ridiculous. I'll see whether i can take some photos, the next time I encounter this hellish crowd. The public doesn't seem to mind packing it in like a can of sardins in one of those trams. I wonder about the pick-pocket crime rate on those things. Also, isn't it dangerous to overload those trains? I mean, most of the time, i can't even breath or hangon to anything, just in case there is an emergency. Normally, after two or three trains past by, I would be able to board. But this time, it took almost 45 minutes and 6-8 trains later. The fuel hike and the capacity of the existing public transportation doesn't correlate at all.

 

Although I take the public transportation, apparently, the amount of cars on the road hasn't decreased. Just a lot more civilised driving now as compared to before the fuel hike. As inconvenient it is to utlize public transportation, it is still more convenient, safer, less time consuming and less dangerous (in a lot of ways), to just drive. an excerpt from Wikipedia, "Public transport can offer significant advantages in areas with higher population densities if it is efficiently utilised, due to its potentially smaller physical and environmental footprint per passenger." Keywords here being "if it efficiently utlised"!!

 

My conclusion is, before I get dishearten by KL's public transportation, let's hope that the government does something about this. Otherwise, I would be forced to pollute the air and leave a larger environmental footprint, by driving my big 4x4! HAHAHA!!! Even my iPod is not alleviating the pain anymore.