YOURSAY | ‘The whole problem with the ERL is that it was not competitive to start with’

Pua: Gov't should allow ERL fare hike instead of extending concession

Panda Maniam: DAP lawmaker Tony Pua says the government should allow a hike in Express Rail Link (ERL) fares, but the Transport Ministry wants to extend the concession for another 30 years.

If the government wants to help out, shouldn't it change the policy to allow for fares to drop, so that more people use the service? And make it less attractive for people to drive to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)?

Theoretically, it's a good service, and if more people used it there wouldn't be so many cars on the road, and big pile-ups outside arrivals. But aside from bad planning (which is to be expected nowadays), it's just too bad too many of our esteemed policymakers have their fingers in so many pies - including in Grab and Uber.

This truly is a new kind of free-market capitalism - not competing interests without regulations, but competing interests among the regulators. I call it survival of the fattest.

Gaji Buta: Estimated fare increase over the years by the ERL would have been done based on projected economic growth and increase in affluence of the population and higher buying power.

However, the country's growth and salaries have not progressed as expected, hence fares that were projected at the start of the concession as affordable by this point in time, are still ridiculously unaffordable for most Malaysians.

This just shows the comfortable state we could have been in, versus the reality of what we are actually in.

Well done, BN.

Boeyks: They can’t increase the price of the ERL as this will price themselves out of the market since there are now several cheaper ways of getting to KLIA. The whole problem with the ERL is that it was not competitive to start with, but due to the government’s backing for it, the rakyat will have to pick up the tab.

I agree with Pua, let ERL increase its rates. The government should maintain the existing concession period, as commuters have other alternatives if they find the rates too high.

Anonymous 2436471476414726: Let market forces dictate the price of ERL fares. If ridership falls because of the expensive fares, then let ERL live with its own decision.

Why punish the rest of the rakyat who don't use the services? Don't rob Peter to pay Paul.

Jamil J: In rush hour traffic, ERL is still the best way to get to the airport. But I agree with Pua that companies such as YTL must not be compensated by the rakyat for their own business decisions.

Instead, let them charge higher fees and face up to the low demand from air travellers. The poorer folks such as the B40 income group will not be affected by this.

Anonymous 2405371458107314: The ERL should be shut down. For most local users, it is faster to drive to the airport than driving to the ERL station to take the “express”.

Want to know how to design and run an airport express? Go to Hong Kong and see how an airport express should be designed and operated.

Anonymous459: They should reduce the fare as the volume would more than compensate for this. But if the ERL still fails, then it should be ready for a fire sale, where many commercial interest parties and private equity setups could buy them over.

Alternatively, given that such a revenue stream is guaranteed till 2029, the government has the option of buying them out. Moreover, YTL made a good pile of profits both before and during the time of construction, so it is also time for them to give something back.

BN strategic comms man slams Pua's ERL 'zombienomics'

Aries46: I don't understand what BN strategic communications deputy director Eric See-To is bellyaching about. What Pua suggested is basically what the ERL management had asked for, not once but three times in a row - to increase the ERL fare.

Why does the regime keep rejecting it? Let the commuters decide their preferred mode of transfer to KLIA.

If ERL is unable to keep abreast of market competition and will go bust whose fault is it? Why keep imposing it on the people and why do the rakyat need to keep bailing out these unviable flops paying good money to chase bad money? What kind of Umno/BN "zombienomics" is that, See-To?

And why keep blaming Mahathir when it is the current regime’s decision to extend the concession by a whopping thirty years? If it was a lopsided deal, See-To, why is the agony being prolonged and dumped on the next generation instead of paying the compensation and cutting the losses? For whose interest and at what cost to the nation?

Whatever deal it was initially, if the ERL is not a competitive market player, prolonging the ERL flop amounts to dumping it on the innocent people, most of whom wouldn't even know what ERL is, let alone travel on it.

Wira: See-To, each investment entity must be responsible for its own decision.

If Tabung Haji made a bad decision to invest in the ERL, then it should be responsible for the overall lower return on its investment.

Do you find EPF holders going back to the government for bailouts if they took out their money from EPF to invest and then lost that money? If the ERL is not going to make money today, what makes you think by extending the concession by another 30 years, it will start to make money?

Quigonbond: See-To says that "the government may have decided that paying this amount now is not in the best interest of the people".

I want to hear from the horse's mouth, someone in a decision-making role who can tell us the exact reason why there has been an extension of the ERL concession period. Give us numbers and different scenarios. Then the public will decide which is the lesser of two evils.

Yes, we know Dr M has a weakness for privatisation. But that is such old news. Malaysians' only concern is how this government should not aggravate an original bad decision with another.

And instead of calling Pua names, I'm saying good work Tony, for giving us an idea worth thinking about.

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