DECEMBER 17 — I write in response to Alwyn Lau’s "So far, yet so near” column. It is worth noting about supercommuters and their long commutes.

However, the first thing that struck me was that public transportation was never once mentioned. It appears that people are willing to take the risk driving hundreds of kilometres daily instead of safer commutes on a train.

This is not their fault though. The reputation and service of our public transportation is notorious, especially outside the greater Klang Valley (KV), the common problem many commuters face is longer waiting period for the train.

And yet, with better public transportation service, interstate travel without driving could become a norm, travel costs can go down, and supercommuters can have an enjoyable, productive commute time.

The housing market in KV has become very expensive. With better public transport accessibility (including reliable first and last mile connections) those who work in the KV area can stay outside KV in less populated areas. Places like Tanjung Malim, Mantin, and Rembau have potential to become satellite cities for Kuala Lumpur.

With more affordable housing projects in these areas, workers could travel daily to their workplace in KV by KTM. This is a win-win situation for all; fresh graduates and newlyweds won’t have to worry about purchasing an expensive house in a highly competitive market, families can buy homes with room to grow and retirees can leave the city but still have access, all without the stress and costs associated with long daily driving commutes.

The best-case scenario is that they don’t even have to buy a car to commute daily to the train station or workplace. Imagine how many thousands of ringgit Malaysians could save on car ownership, fuel and maintenance costs if there is a better public transportation system.

The traffic congestion in KV could potentially ease and this will help to reduce pollution. 

KTMB’s ETS Train is seen at KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur January 31, 2018. — Picture by Mukhriz Hazim

So, what can be done? Firstly, KTM service needs improvements. Currently, KTM services are using shared track, which means ETS, Komuter and freight trains using a single lane.

This is preventing KTM’s express and commuter train services from reaching their full potential. To illustrate, imagine a highway where instead of a left lane for slow vehicles like lorries, a middle lane for general use, and right lane for safe passing, all vehicles merged together into a single lane. That’s what is currently happening to KTM.

KTM tracks need to be upgraded from two tracks to four tracks which can help KTM to provide better service. With separate express lanes, express trains could skip smaller stations (which can be serviced by regular trains) to speed up travel time to KV from the areas I mentioned above.

Travel time between Negeri Sembilan, Perak to Selangor, KL will be much faster with a quad track system. Additionally, providing feeder buses to the KTM stations as first mile and last mile connection would help the commuters completely avoid using cars.

Finally, KTM should also consider terminating smaller and less used stations, especially nearer to KL city centre. Some stations are located so close to each other, it only takes less than five minutes to travel by train.

The community living around the terminated stations could travel to alternative nearby stations by feeder bus service, as this will not only significantly reduce the time taken to reach the station. But, this could help speed up KTM train’s travel time and more rail users could reach their destinations faster.

As we move into a post-pandemic world, we have an opportunity to create better lives for all Malaysians. Using the lockdown period as an opportunity, Barcelona, Paris, London, Toronto, New York and many other cities have built more bicycle lanes and given more accessibility to pedestrians.

The world is moving fast from a car-centred system to more accessible and safer cities with better public transportation for the people. With better public transportation accessibility, we could improve the quality of our life.

Improving KTM would be one of many things we could begin with. Furthermore, many global companies like Twitter are already allowing their staff to work from home permanently.

Working from home will become the norm in the post pandemic world. So, it won’t be a problem if a person chooses to stay next to their office or hundreds of kilometres away.

Investing in KTM service and public transport links will bring significant benefits at a fraction of the cost of building new highways and more driving. Let’s work together to build a better world.

* Mathana Muhilan is a member of public transit NGO, Transit Malaysia.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.