There is much talk today about the degradation of our public bus service, especially the intra-city bus service that culminated in the formation of RapidKL some years back. Before this, KL used to be witness to the magic of the mini-buses, which can give the Bullit a run for its money any time, whilst carrying a ferryload of passengers, hanging on by the skin of their teeth!

The government saw a need to reform the bus service, to upgrade the service in line with the modernisation and enhancement of the public transport as a means to curb the ever increasing number of vehicles taking to the roads. As we are also aware, there is only so much that KL could handle in terms of traffic at one time, and due to this, public transport is seen as a major factor to alleviate the hardship.

What a good idea at the time. Merging the mini-buses and having them come into a company that is owned by the government, and together with the LRT, Komuter and Monorail system, have them complement each other and make KL a better place to live in.

Jump to today, where RapidKL, the intra-city bus operator, is humming loudly, but its hum is the hum of broken hearts, pockets and dreams. Long gone are the positive expectations that RapidKL could bring about a paradigm shift in commuters' minds that utilising public transport will get you to where you are faster and cheaper.

There are major factors affecting RapidKL. This has got to do with the inept service routes, the poor scheduling, the poor maintenance and human resources management, plus the poor planning of the entire programme. RapidKL cannot manage different systems involving the LRT (two different routes using different rail systems that could never merge or meet), the Komuter which is run by KTM and the monorail - plus the bus service.

All these systems work under different regimes, hence the nightmare in preparing timetables as such. Moreover, there is never a point in the system that suggests that it would be easy for any user to shift from one system to another. And apart from the Monorail, the main aim of the LRT, Komuter and bus service is to bring people in and out of KL city centre, not manage movement within it. Thus the reason for the hopeless service.

The Federal Territories Ministry, under the stewardship of an Air Force retiree, once had planned for the overhaul of the entire system to ensure its enhancement will be in line with that of Tokyo or London and even New York. Alas, the resistance from many quarters, including the Transport Ministry and DBKL, hampered this effort.

Of course, the cabinet has now formed a high-powered committee to look into this matter, but what is needed now are solid policies and brave governance to change the entire system. The committee must accept that the policies must take into account everyday traffic and life of people in KL and that within its conurbation. And it must be governed by only one body, not by a host of ministries like now.

One of the main factors must be to reduce traffic flow within KL city centre. It would mean getting the people to utilise RapidKL or whatever system that is used to replace it instead of their vehicles within the city centre. Congestion charging comes to mind, but with the hungry officers within DBKL waiting to pounce on the deal, it would not be justifiable.

In any case, the minister has correctly pointed out that congestion pricing is the last gap measure if the re-calibrated system is proven to be working perfectly. Now, the major issue here is, how do you integrate all these different systems, that has given riches to so many big guns, into a cohesive and working system that actually serves the rakyat ?

Maybe the committee should listen to this - why not have parallel underground lines running through the city following the major roads - that is to say you will have an alternative underground system operating in the same direction as the road on top. Picture this, if it takes you 30 minutes at least on a wet working day to get from PWTC to Sungai Besi airport, who wouldn’t want to change to the underground if you can get there in five?

Many critics will claim that the soil in KL is unfit for underground work. But the success of the Smart tunnel has proven them dumb-assess in their own right. Technology has changed, and it is technology that can save KL today. It will cost the government a bundle, but I believe the benefits reaped will be even more worthy than any amount paid for the system. But in order to do this, I strongly suggest the government re-study the routes of the LRT system, and adjust them to enable the alternative system to be not only supportive, but to also become the primary mode of transportation in KL.

RapidKL has so far proven itself a dud in terms of providing an alternative public transport system that suits the Malaysian way of life. Until and when the government solves this problem, the public transportation problem will remain a burden and a failed benchmark for any government body governing the city. As it stands, RapidKL is yet more proof that you can have failure - at the world-class level.

Care to take the bus today?