I am a student who commutes back and forth to the university at which I study most days of the week, not to mention someone who uses most avenues of the public transportation system available in Malaysia.

Staying in the Seri Kembangan area, which I found convenient for a multitude of reasons including the fact that public transport was easily available, not to mention the many cafés around the area, makes it easy for a student who has a busy schedule to keep.

Prior to Dec 1, 2015, both RapidKL and Metro buses operated in the area which contributed towards the convenience factor when it came to taking public transport. As students, we are unable to afford more than public transport to get around and I believed that the transport system back then at least offered us with choices, not to mention RapidKL provided a comfortable medium of transportation though things were not perfect.

There was also the fact that with two bus operators in the area, the waiting time wasn’t usually longer than 15 to 20 minutes.

I always preferred the RapidKL to Metro buses. For one thing, RapidKL buses are clean, mostly new and well maintained, not to mention comfortable. For another, they have the mechanism for e-payment in place which makes life very easy.

I use a Touch ’n Go card for two reasons. It allows me to use all modes of public transportation that allows e-payment, and it offers a discount on RapidKL buses which really wins bonus points when one is looking for ways in which to save money, especially when things are getting more and more expensive in Malaysia by the day.

I had already heard of the price hike that was to come about to the LRT, KTM and Monorail services effective on Dec 2, 2015 and was braced for it. What I had not read about in any of the papers was the change to the bus network that the transportation authority Spad was going to bring, and along with it, changes to the bus fares as well.

When the toll fare increased recently, buses were spared the hike because of one thing and one thing alone. It was to keep the bus fares intact as they were, and also to encourage more people to take buses when traveling back and forth, a move by the government to reduce traffic congestion.

So come Dec 2, I was waiting for the bus with a friend of mine for RapidKL bus U432, which I usually used to take to get to KL to get to class. I thought it was weird that I was not seeing any RapidKL buses around at that time, but then when the Metro bus came to our stop, me and my friend climbed aboard because we were in a hurry and couldn’t wait around for the RapidKL bus to arrive.

RM3 is the fare that I normally have to pay to Metro bus to get to KL while via RapidKL, through Touch ’n Go, I pay RM2.40 to get to the same destination, via the same route. When we handed over our fare, the conductor asked us to hand over 30 sen more each, which is when I saw an announcement plastered to one of the grimy windows of the bus, stating that the bus fares along all routes have been changed for Metro buses, effective Dec 1, 2015.

Metro buses are smelly and dirty, the condition of their seats are so bad that most of the time it is as if you are sitting inside the seating provided rather than on it, not to mention how much the back hurts if you sit in them for longer periods of time. There is also the fact that these buses are not friendly for the disabled and the old, with no seating areas specifically designated for the category as is on RapidKL buses.

I went online to scrounge through the newspapers to find whether there had been any mention of such a change that I might have missed.

I couldn’t find anything related to the changes to the bus transportation system that had been enforced by Spad as part of their Greater KL plan, to encourage people to take to public transportation more and also to increase the routes via which buses travel, by separating all operators into various districts or areas.

The news was dominated by the fare hike that is to come to the ERL services come 2016, which is of course considerably more expensive compared to the bus fare hikes. I even reached out to a classmate of mine who is a journalist himself, only to find out that he had no idea of anything of the sort happening. Such was the scale of information the public had on the matter.

Not the only one confused

The one thing I did realise was that I was not the only one who was confused by the change. Several people were reaching out to Spad and RapidKL via social media, expressing their disappointment and complaining about the increased waiting time and how they actually disliked taking the Metro bus as an alternative to RapidKL.

For a country aspiring for greater heights, to achieve Vision 2020 in just about five years’ time, which means Malaysia becoming a high income country, the change in the bus services takes people back to the 90’s.

What I believe Spad should have done is to bring all the buses operating in KL to the same or even higher quality (if they may) as the buses operated by RapidKL, enable e-payment on all buses, and also make them friendly for the disabled and the old to travel in and only then brought about the change they have made effective from this month onwards.

Instead, now, people are left with substandard buses charging higher fares, conductors acting like crazy trying to make tears in the bus tickets to show that they are keeping a hawk’s eye on passengers under the newly-established bus fare system.

What further increased my confusion was upon Spad being asked about the bus fare hike, they replied that they have informed Metro bus to charge the same fares as before, and that they were in engagement with Metro bus management to ease passenger difficulties.

I guess this is what happens when policies are crafted and made effective by those that have very little knowledge of what actually happens on the ground, what it is actually like and what the sentiments of those who take public transportation are like when it comes to the bus services available in the city.

A Greater KL would be one where people are not confused about which bus to take to go where, buses where people can make payments easily; clean and affordable buses that makes minimal fuss about transferring passengers from Point A to Point B. Buses that cater to the disabled and the old. This, I believe is the Greater KL that should have been and should be the aspiration of Spad.

It was disheartening to see the RapidKL buses sitting idle near the Serdang KTM area, all because their licences to operate in the area have been revoked by Spad. RapidKL’s statement on the matter that they published on their social media sites tells a story. The announcement tells the story of having had their arms twisted over the matter, of them having to “surrender” certain routes to other bus service providers.

What Spad has effectively done is driven out the competition and instead established mini-monopolies in their place that does nothing to improve the services provided to the people. Because in essence what a monopoly does is to charge people whatever they see fit, for services of whatever calibre they provide - because people are rendered choiceless in the matter.

My only hope and wish is that Spad starts listening to the voices on the ground, no matter how weak their voices appear to be because the medias that be are not really pushing this issue to the level where it should to get noticed by the policy makers at large. I wish only greater things for the city of Kuala Lumpur. Greater things for Malaysia and its future. May she get there with the best of interests of its people at heart.