KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — The Ministry of Transport, through the Land Public Transport Agency, will coordinate bus service routes in the Klang Valley to be more integrated in the future.

Its Minister Anthony Loke said that currently, three different bus services were operating in the area, namely Rapid Bus, the free GoKL buses operated by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Smart Selangor buses run by the Selangor government.

"We need to coordinate their routes to be more integrated and not overlap. We hope this integration and collaboration can help provide a smoother, more efficient bus service and increase the number of passengers,” he told reporters.

He was met after inspecting the operations of Rapid KL bus lanes from Pandan Indah to Masjid Jamek here, with Rapid Bus chief executive officer Muhammad Yazurin Sallij Muhammad Yassin also present.

Loke said that only 724 buses were operating in the Klang Valley each day, a small number compared to the need for nearly 4,000 buses for an efficient service.

However, he said Rapid Bus would continue to work on increasing that number, and it is estimated that 1,000 buses will be operational daily by the end of this year.

"Some 150 Rapid KL buses are still being maintained and can be put back into service. In addition, we are appointing new bus operators. For example, routes that are not covered by our buses will be outsourced to other operators,” he said.

Regarding the bus lanes that started operations in July, Loke said there has been a 12 per cent increase in the number of passengers, from 12,936 to 14,523 people per day, saving about 20 minutes compared to using private cars.

"From my observation, although there are bus lanes, many private cars still enter these lanes and cause inconvenience for the buses. This matter will be discussed further at the Cabinet meeting on traffic congestion next month,” he said.

On July 3, DBKL, in collaboration with Rapid Bus, implemented a pilot project for bus lanes, namely Route 300 from Pandan Indah to Lebuh Ampang and Route 303 from Taman Mulia Jaya to Lebuh Ampang.

The bus lanes, which operate from Monday to Friday from 6am to 9am, benefit the community along the Jalan Ampang corridor who want to enter the city centre for work. — Bernama