KUCHING, Jan 21 — Kuching’s hydrogen-fuelled bus service launched today and earned the thumbs-up from Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Abang Johari Openg.

It is also the first city in South-east Asia to operate the hydrogen bus service.

Abang Johari, together with state Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin and Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Husain and members of the media, were given a ride on three hydrogen-powered buses as they travelled on a designated route.

"This is a trial period and during this period, the service is provided free to the public,” the chief minister said after the ride.

For now, the three buses will operate daily from 6am to 6pm starting tomorrow. Currently the hydrogen buses will serve the route that starts and ends at Kuching Waterfront at Jalan Main Bazaar.

The route will be from Jalan Main Bazaar to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, then Jalan Padungan, Jalan Central Timur, Jalan Ban Hock, Jalan Song Thian Cheok and passing through Riverside Majestic Hotel, Post Office building, Sarawak Museum before going to Jalan Satok, Medan Niaga Satok, Jalan Muhibbah, Jalan Datuk Ajibah Abol, Jalan Mudah Hashim, Jalan Haji Taha, Jalan Gambir and back to Jalan Main Bazaar.

The chief minister said the three buses are equipped with high speed LITE WiFi internet connection.

He added that commuters can use the H2 SarawakApp to find out in real time the location of the buses that are in service as well as Google the transit integration to find the nearest public transportation to get from point to point.

He also said the hydrogen bus app is the first in Malaysia to deploy a city-wide implementation of "Beacons”, which allow for online and mobile push notifications on various offers, promotions for city dwellers.

"For visitors, information on historical landmarks and places of interest are also available on the app,” he said.

He said the hydrogen bus app also marks a first in Sarawak for integration with "Google Transit” that provides information to users on "real time” schedules for bus arrivals and connecting points.

The chief minister said this will pave the way for a fully integrated online route and live schedule of Sarawak’s public transportation system which will help users to save time.

The hydrogen bus app can be downloaded via Google Play store for Android and should be available soon in App store for IOS users.

The three buses are manufactured by Foshan Feichi Automobile Manufacture Co Ltd, one of the leading hydrogen fuel cell vehicle manufacturers in China.

Each of the buses can accommodate up to 30 passengers at one time and can travel to a distance of 300 kilometres per full tank of 20kg hydrogen.