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Five Kuching bus companies to form consortium

Five bus companies in Kuching have agreed to form a consortium to provide services within the city and areas outside it.

Sarawak Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Micheal Manyin said they are now waiting to sign an agreement which has been sent to the federal Attorney-General’s Office for endorsement.

Speaking at a media conference today, he said the companies had placed orders for 140 new buses to ply 26 routes, including 14 along the state trunk and 12 feeder roads covering 512.6 kilometres.

“For Kuching city alone, this will mean a 68 percent increase in coverage. The new buses will be disabled people friendly, too,” Manyin said.

He said the bus companies are Bau Transport Sdn Bhd, Biaramas Express Sdn Bhd, City Public Link Bus Service Sdn Bhd, Petrajaya Transport(Sarawak) Sdn Bhd and the Sarawak Transport Company Sdn Bhd.

“The consortium will operate under the ‘My Bas’ branding. It is expected that within the next five years their buses will carry around 50,000 to 75,000 people.

“If this is achievable, it will also mean about 15 percent of the city’s population of 500,000 people are benefitting,” he added.

Manyin said the buses would be fitted with GPS and an electronic ticketing system to monitor their frequencies and punctuality.

“We expect the signing of the agreement to happen by mid-June for the consortium to work out other matters like fares,” he said.

Manyin dismissed the recent suggestion by Padungan DAP state assemblyperson Wong King Wei for a free bus service in Kuching as “good, but unfortunately financially impractical”.

He said it would cost the government RM145 million to start such a service besides the RM48 million needed as yearly operating costs.

He also announced that with effect from this Friday, the ferry toll at the Long Lama and Marudi ferry crossings in the Miri Division which are privately operated, would be reduced to RM1 for cars and RM5 for buses and lorries/trailers from RM3 and RM15 respectively.

- Bernama

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