I am very glad to hear that the prime minister had been willing to hear the many suggestions made by users of public transport.

What most people fail to see is that we have been subsidising private transportation at the full expense of a fast, safe, convenient, efficient and effective public transport system.

The cost to build and maintain roads, street lamps, drainage, bridges etc, and the amount of energy burned are higher for private vehicles than for public mass transit (based on both Capex and Opex cost per passenger per mile).

In other words, considering Tom, Dick and Harry ride a Hilux, a Honda motorcycle and the bus each, the amount of road space taken up is shared disproportionately, with Tom 'eating up' public space 10-20 times more than Harry.

No developed countries (with the exception of Singapore and Hong Kong because they are city-states) in the world have a public transport system that is self-funded.

In the US, the fare that you pay for a train/bus ride does not even cover one third of the ride cost.

Look at the KL Sentral Station management who is more keen at retail profits; it should be called KL Sentral Market. KTM is forced to procure poor quality Komuter coaches and look at what we have now.

Traffic police themselves instruct cars to use the bus lanes at Jalan Syed Putra during the evening rush hour. Bandar Tasik Selatan, to be made 'integrated', does not even have exclusive bus ramps for rapid entry and exit to surrounding expressways.

Private companies cut each other to control the Federal Highway bus routes (KL-Klang), including the latest entry of another competitor called Causeway Link (a Johor Baru bus operator), with overcrowded 'racing' buses (with torques and horsepowers greater than interstate buses).

But none have pioneered or invented creative ways to serve commuters effectively, like non-stop service via the Kesas/Pantai/NKVE highways to reduce the horrific traffic jams.

In a nutshell, the establishment of a transportation authority at the local and federal level must be given exclusive ownership of all infrastructure, systems and procedures that are necessary to coordinate, plan, monitor and review the execution of an effective and efficient public transport system.

The PM's acknowledgment that there is a fundamental problem in our mass transit is a good start.