PETALING JAYA, March 31 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Wednesday efforts to step up usage of public transportation demanded a drastic mental shift in the people.
He said a major factor was the need to change the perception that public transportation was only for the low-income group and lower strata of society.
"It is amusing that some (Malaysians) have no qualms about using public transportation overseas but hesitate to take the LRT or bus back home because they regard it as less glamorous or prestigious," he said in his speech when launching the 1Malaysia four-coach train for the Kelana Jaya route, at the RapidKL Subang Depot near here.
The prime minister said there could be probably other reasons for such an attitude, such as the weather and coverage of service at a particular time.
"Nevertheless, if such factors were weeded out, will the people be prepared to shift to public transportation than use their own vehicle?" he asked.
Najib said that in reality, greater usage of public transportation depended largely on the acculturation and attitude of the people, apart from the government's efforts.
He said the public transportation network should be able to support economic growth, increase in population growth and diversification of urban activities.
"For the government, the primary objective or target is to raise the number of people using public transportation to 25 per cent by 2012 and improve travel time, comfort, accessibility and state of interdependence," he said.
He said the Government Transportation Programme (GTP) roadmap had underlined several areas of focus in realising the National Key Results Area to upgrade urban public transportation, among them stepping up the quality of travel on public transportation from the time the commuter stepped out of the house up to the final destination.
Several measures would be implemented to achieve this, among them improving the KTM Komuter and LRT capacities by 1.7 to four times.
Najib said 850 buses would be added on to improve the coverage of service, and more than 50 new routes would be introduced to increase connectivity, in tandem with the development of an integrated transportation system.
He also said that a single ticket would be introduced for use on the bus, LRT and monorail.
Besides, more than 6,000 parking lots would be provided at 14 train stations and the feeder bus service would be improved, he said.
Three major integrated transportation terminals would be established with the aim of restricting the entry of heavy vehicles to the central business district, he added.
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