Seriously..?

I have to admit, I am a person who, if given the chance, would not want to drive my car when travelling in KL. I hate the traffic jams, the long queues, the tolls and so on. I have been a proud supporter of public transport for long since the age of mini bus (old, famous sardine-type bas mini KL). With the introduction of LRT systems in KL, I had become really delightful seeing that the routes were right where I frequently go. Then with the completion of KL Monorail, it seems like everything was completed. I had long dreamt of the ability to jump from one train to another to go to a destination, and how that system would be so useful if it is efficiently managed.

But as old Malay proverb says, "Langit tak selalu cerah". It is true in KL's public transportation system. I am not ashamed to say that the day LRT systems was launched, I was very happy and thankful. Seeing that the coach ran smoothly on the track, I felt proud been borned in KL. But now, I see that the LRT is bogged down with problem most of the time. Yes I know, things tend to break over time. It is an acceptable fact, hey I'm a technical person too okay. What I don't understand is, is the LRT coaches are designed to break down with major damage twice a year? I still haven't forget the morning LRT system got stucked, causing many of us arriving late to office. The sad thing was, the management seemed like having the thought the passengers didn't have to be notified of what's the current situation. There was not a signboard telling people the coaches were stucked, resulting people who didn't know the situation continuing to use the system. All these would not cause major headache to people if they could inform people of the inoperable system at that time, and people would seek other alternatives instead of kept on crowding the LRT stations.

After a year, I would have thought the problem are solved and passengers would be notified if they have problem with the system. Well, safe to say my dream shatters once again. I was on my way to buy something from a person and both of us agreed to meet at Tasik Selatan LRT station. I parked my car at Sentul station and proceeded to the gate. There was no notification whatsoever, so I assumed that all is OK. As I entered the station gate, the first sign of doom happened. The staffs told me to go to other platform as there was some problem. Well okay, might be the rail was broken or something I guess. But at least they could do it outside of the gate, so that people who couldn't afford to be late would seek other transportation. As I waited for the train to arrive, there wasn't a single announcement telling the passengers what the problem was or what's the ETA of the next train. All they announced is that passengers were required to change train at Sultan Ismail station. It took half an hour for the train to arrive, and after that another 20 minutes to wait for the train going to Sri Petaling at the Sultan Ismail station. What I assumed to be half an hour journey had turned into one hour and 15 minutes journey, resulting me to arrive late at Tasik Selatan LRT.

So to the management of Rapid KL, if you happen to read this blog I would like to express my dissatisfaction and frustration in the way your staffs handled the situation. The inability to inform the passengers before the passengers enter the station was a stupid mistake, as this made the station crowded due to trains arriving late. Then the lack of adequate announcement informing the passengers on what's the cause of the problem shows that your staffs were ignoring the passengers right to know what's happening. Your staffs were also unable to give expected ETA of the next train to arrive, which in return resulting the passengers to unable to plan their journey. I strongly suggest that you teach your staffs to treat passengers with respect and to inform passengers if the system experienced any problem before the passengers buy their tickets.

We talk too much on the traffic jam problem that worsen day by day in KL to the point that we plan to impose toll charges to cars entering KL. But what we misjudged is to make perfect of our public transportation system. Don't put the mistake on the consumers when the core cause of the problem is improper city planning long before buildings were built..

[note]
Pardon the grammatical mistakes. I am too lazy to recheck my spellings and grammar.