Kuala Lumpur is mulling peak hour traffic fees and lanes reserved for shared cars to ease the jams which choke the city's roads.

Kuala Lumpur's newly-appointed mayor, Abdul Hakim Borhan, said greater use of public transport would ease the congestion, which sees daily bumper-to-bumper peak hour traffic.

"We need to take effective measures before KL traffic worsens," Abdul Hakim, who started work yesterday, was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times .

Besides introducing a fee on drivers in the city, Abdul Hakim said he was also considering of car pool lanes, which would allow vehicles with two or more drivers to escape the congestion fees.

"At present, most cars have one driver entering the city at peak hours. This creates congestion," said the mayor.

Peak-hour fees

Peak hours are between 7am and 9am, and 5pm and 7pm on weekdays, when workers flood in and out of Kuala Lumpur, which has a concentration of offices at its centre.

Abdul Hakim said public transport into the city was already available and could be enhanced, the newspaper reported.

"We might need to adjust and improve the public transport system further," he said.

Cities which have introduced peak-hour fees to reduce traffic include Singapore and London.