Commuters get short end of stick
JOHOR Baru City Council has come up with a solution to the the problem of traffic congestion in Jalan Wong Ah Fook, which it believes is caused by the long queue of stage buses waiting for passengers.
The council recently announced that effective May 1, all stage buses plying the northwest route, which is basically the Skudai corridor, may only drop off passengers by the road. They will not be allowed to pick up passengers.
The buses, which serve major housing estates such as Taman Perling, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Taman Bukit Indah, Taman Universiti, and even Kulai, will terminate their journeys at Larkin Sentral, about six kilometres away. At present, they end their journey in Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
For those who need to catch the bus, the council has prepared free shuttle bus services to pick them up in Jalan Wong Ah Fook and drop them off at Larkin Sentral free of charge. The shuttle service runs every 10 minutes, 6am to 11pm daily.
It seems to be a good move to ease traffic flow -- at the expense of the passengers.
The bus drivers usually stop to wait for passenger in the bus lane in Jalan Wong Ah Fook. Some wait there for up to 30 minutes for the bus to be packed like a can of sardines before they consider it worth their time to move.
These drivers are treating the lane more like a bus terminal than a bus lane.
The traffic police will come by every now and then to chase them away or even issue them summonses. As a deterrent, this does not work, as the traffic police are not stationed there all the time. Once the cat leaves, the rats are out again.
Instead of addressing the problem by regularly deploying traffic police along the road, the council prefers to implement the new and costly "no boarding" ruling.
Summonses or compound fines are revenue for the traffic police. If traffic police are stationed at the bus lanes, I am sure bus drivers will know what not to do, if they know what's good for them. The problem will be solved sooner or later.
Employing shuttle services will incur additional costs, and I doubt if the council has the expertise to run such a service.
I foresee a long queue waiting to rush into the incoming shuttle buses during peak hours. A mess is certainly in the making.
Now, how prepared is Larkin Sentral to accommodate these additional buses to serve the northwest route?
Already, the bus terminal is packed to capacity during peak hours. The new policy will only sweep the problem 6km away from Jalan Wong Ah Fook to Larkin Sentral.
If the suggestion for the regular deployment of traffic police at the bus lanes is not good enough, how about allowing the stage buses to drop off passengers in Jalan Wong Ah Fook and to pick up passengers only in Jalan Tun Razak (near the old KTM station). This will also eliminate the traffic problem in Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
The new policy, as it is, will greatly inconvenience the passengers.
Before introducing a policy of this nature, it would be nice if the council consulted the passengers instead of owners of posh vehicles, who till this day cannot figure out why people are taking the public buses.
With no enforcement officers in sight, bus drivers park in the bus lane to await passengers, causing traffic to clog up in Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
~News courtesy of New Straits Times~
JOHOR Baru City Council has come up with a solution to the the problem of traffic congestion in Jalan Wong Ah Fook, which it believes is caused by the long queue of stage buses waiting for passengers.
The council recently announced that effective May 1, all stage buses plying the northwest route, which is basically the Skudai corridor, may only drop off passengers by the road. They will not be allowed to pick up passengers.
The buses, which serve major housing estates such as Taman Perling, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Taman Bukit Indah, Taman Universiti, and even Kulai, will terminate their journeys at Larkin Sentral, about six kilometres away. At present, they end their journey in Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
For those who need to catch the bus, the council has prepared free shuttle bus services to pick them up in Jalan Wong Ah Fook and drop them off at Larkin Sentral free of charge. The shuttle service runs every 10 minutes, 6am to 11pm daily.
It seems to be a good move to ease traffic flow -- at the expense of the passengers.
The bus drivers usually stop to wait for passenger in the bus lane in Jalan Wong Ah Fook. Some wait there for up to 30 minutes for the bus to be packed like a can of sardines before they consider it worth their time to move.
These drivers are treating the lane more like a bus terminal than a bus lane.
The traffic police will come by every now and then to chase them away or even issue them summonses. As a deterrent, this does not work, as the traffic police are not stationed there all the time. Once the cat leaves, the rats are out again.
Instead of addressing the problem by regularly deploying traffic police along the road, the council prefers to implement the new and costly "no boarding" ruling.
Summonses or compound fines are revenue for the traffic police. If traffic police are stationed at the bus lanes, I am sure bus drivers will know what not to do, if they know what's good for them. The problem will be solved sooner or later.
Employing shuttle services will incur additional costs, and I doubt if the council has the expertise to run such a service.
I foresee a long queue waiting to rush into the incoming shuttle buses during peak hours. A mess is certainly in the making.
Now, how prepared is Larkin Sentral to accommodate these additional buses to serve the northwest route?
Already, the bus terminal is packed to capacity during peak hours. The new policy will only sweep the problem 6km away from Jalan Wong Ah Fook to Larkin Sentral.
If the suggestion for the regular deployment of traffic police at the bus lanes is not good enough, how about allowing the stage buses to drop off passengers in Jalan Wong Ah Fook and to pick up passengers only in Jalan Tun Razak (near the old KTM station). This will also eliminate the traffic problem in Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
The new policy, as it is, will greatly inconvenience the passengers.
Before introducing a policy of this nature, it would be nice if the council consulted the passengers instead of owners of posh vehicles, who till this day cannot figure out why people are taking the public buses.
With no enforcement officers in sight, bus drivers park in the bus lane to await passengers, causing traffic to clog up in Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
~News courtesy of New Straits Times~
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