PUTRAJAYA, March 6 — The government has approved and channelled an allocation of RM50 million for the expansion of special bus lanes and to purchase of 100 units of Demand Response Transit (DRT) vans in the Klang Valley starting September 2024, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Ahmad Zahid who is also the Cabinet Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Congestion (JKMKJR) chairman said studies showed that the implementation of Special Bus Lanes in Jalan Ampang and Genting Klang since July 3 has shown a favourable response in terms of time savings.

"The data shows that there is a time saving of up to 18 minutes for the bus journey at the location (point-to-point) and based on the savings there is an increase in the number of passengers daily by 20 to 45 per cent.

"Thus, with the effectiveness of the reduction in travel time there was an increase in bus frequency and the number of daily passengers so the JKMKJR meeting decided to maintain the special bus route in Jalan Ampang and Jalan Genting Klang,” he said in a statement issued after the JKMKJR 1/2024 meeting today.

The meeting also agreed to extend the special bus route to Jalan Klang Lama starting June 2024, and carry out a study for the implementation of bus lanes in Jalan Cheras (Taman Connaught — Jalan Pudu) and the Federal Highway (Kuala Lumpur City Centre — Shah Alam Interchange).

Ahmad Zahid who is also the Minister of Rural and Regional Development said the meeting had decided to implement a new dispersal system in stages for critical locations of congestion, after receiving information from the police, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Public Works Department (JKR).

He said that the government had also implemented contra routes to help traffic congestion especially at peak times and the results of a study by the Malaysian Road Safety Research Institute (MIROS) showed that 88 per cent of highway users agreed that contra routes are effective in reducing traffic congestion.

"(Thus) the meeting agreed to improve enforcement and operational measures to avoid issues such as accidents resulting from the installation of cones and addition of lighting when it rains and when it is dark,” he said.

In addition, he said PLANMalaysia will examine proposals for development projects using the concept based on ‘Transit Oriented Development’ (TOD) as a long-term measure to reduce road congestion, particularly in the development and operation areas of the East Coast Rail Line Project (ECRL),Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB).

Regarding data related to road safety, he said Malaysia recorded a total of 6,443 traffic-related deaths last year with an average of 18 deaths per day, and of these, 4,480 deaths involved motorcycle users.

The JKMKJR meeting, among others, also discussed other proposals such as the dispersion of Johor Bahru traffic submitted by the Johor State Government and agreed to the proposed construction of a 7.4 kilometer long covered footpath and the addition of 175 bus stops by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) throughout 2024 in Klang Valley.

"I hope that this initiative can be implemented in accordance with the plan to ensure that the quality of the country’s public transport services can be improved, thus further attracting the people to switch to the use of public transport services to meet their mobility needs.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook at a press conference at Parliament Building today, said the JKMKJR meeting also decided that the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) issue a daily report on road accident cases every day.

He said the report that needs to be implemented in the near future was made to increase public awareness about road safety because road accident is one of the main causes of death in Malaysia.

"So today’s meeting decided that every day information about road accidents will be released in real-time every day by PDRM and PDRM has also agreed.

"Usually these statistics (road accidents) are only released once a year, but that gives a picture which doesn’t cause concern to the public. So, what the government is doing is to raise public awareness,” he said. — Bernama