ZH’s Memo

I’m just going to comment as a consumer and a northeastern Klang Valley resident on this issue.

Public transportation systems are meant to deliver convenience. We want buses that arrive near to our doorsteps, we want trains that stop on our towns, and vice versa. One of the major weakness of the public transportation system in Malaysia is the frustrating fact that most of us have to take at least three or four means of transportation to get from point A to point B. For example, if I need to get to KLCC from home purely by public transport, I need to walk to the bus stop and then take a bus to the nearest train station, before I take a train downtown to KL Sentral. Then I have to switch to the LRT line before I can reach my destination. I’m sure a lot of you have to also do a combination of walking, riding on the bus, and riding on the train/LRT to get to somewhere.

One question arises: When choosing the site of a train station or a bus terminal, whose convenience is priotitized? The communters’ or the developers’? With so many of these transportation hubs situated in far away places with a lot of uninhabited land instead of within towns and cities, it’s hard to pick the former as the answer.

The locations and status-designations of airports in and around the Klang Valley are terrible examples of the inconvenient nature of public transportation in Malaysia. Let’s face it – the KLIA and LCCT are considered far especially for central and northern Klang Valley folks.

i can understand the location of KLIA. After all, it is the ‘national’ airport which is supposed to serve as a regional hub for international flights, thus it is supposed to occupy a very large area and there is hardly any space in and around the city centre for a international-class airport.

But I strongly feel that the LCCT, which is even farther away from the city centre than the main KLIA terminal, is not built at the right place. I believe that one of the key functions of the LCCT is to serve as an alternative to private transportation/buses/trains for domestic travel (within the peninsula). Those who are travelling to other states for work or holiday, or those who are travelling back to their hometowns, should be able to consider flying as an option to get to their destination. But the inconveniences cause by the location of the LCCT have put a lot of us off from flying. Flying is supposed to be the fastest option, but when the terminal is located so far away, it is only barely faster than driving or taking a bus!

It is regrettable not the Subang Airport was shunned years ago when Malaysian Airports and Air Asia and other interested parties were looking to build a low cost terminal. Subang was and still is the best site for a low cost terminal. If it cannot be the main LCCT, at least it should be developed as a second LCCT to cater to central and northern KV folks. However, the chance of that happening is slim.

While Firefly is operating from Subang (thank goodness), its routes are very few and the fares can be quite high sometimes if compared to Air Asia’s, though it is a budget airline. Moreover, the Subang airport site is currently being developed into a high-end transportation hub catering to private jet customers. Therefore, I’m doubtful of Firefly’s long-term existence in Terminal 3. Will the management of this high-class private jet hub allow a budget airline to utilize its facilities?

What nonsense is this? Those who have money to take private jets are those who won’t be hurt for paying for the petrol and toll fees to drive or be driven 80kms from their mansions in Sierramas to Sepang. And yet the convenient site of Subang airport is reserved for them instead of the ordinary KV folk who can only fly budget airlines.

Why can’t Subang be used as an LCCT? Or why can’t it at least be made as a ’state’ airport? The airports in Penang, Malacca, and Kuala Terengganu, to name a few, are not far away from the city centres. And yet Kuala Lumpur’s LCCT is at least 45 minutes away from the centre of the capital.

There’s worse news for central and northern KV folks – the new LCCT will be constructed in Labu, Negeri Sembilan, and the existing LCCT may be shut down as it is supposed to be a temporary solution. We have to travel to Negeri Sembilan to take a flight to Malacca next time, yeah how convenient and fast.

If things are going to plan, then we’re left with only one option – save Terminal 3!