In a recently sensationalised press meet, the MP for Kota Belud said that to encourage more Malaysians to take the public transport, the cost of driving should be increased.

“... we must slowly but surely have to make sure that people switch to public transport. And one way to make sure of that is that if you drive your own, pay more.” said Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Now while I welcome the government’s move to urge people to take public transport, the MRT and BRT are not ready yet. Most of the areas on the outskirts of KL do not have sufficient public transport options. Take for example Serdang which has a Komuter station. There are no feeder busses into Seri Serdang though there are to UPM and a few to parts of Seri Kembangan.

The trains are packed even on Sundays and unreliable. It takes two to three hours to travel from PJ to Serdang using public transport.

The other option is to park in Putrajaya ERL station and head to KL Sentral. But the ticket costs an exorbitant RM9.50 per way.

Why were the toll prices increased on the Sungai Besi, Besraya, Smart Highway (which are the lifeline for people in Kajang, Semenyih, Serdang and more) when there are insufficient public transport to travel from these parts of the country? Folks already wake up early, pay toll and still get caught in a jam everyday.

I recently visited Mumbai and took their trains. It cost me 5 rupees (RM0.32) to travel 13.6km in 30 minutes. The same distance would have cost me 350 rupees by taxi and took me nearly 1 hour to travel at a non-peak hour.

In between stations I had the option to travel shorter distances at just Rs20-30 (RM1.40-RM2) for a few kilometres in an auto.

It made me think of our own public transportation.

One, it isn’t well connected.

Two - it’s expensive.

Three - it takes longer to travel in than drive.

Our public transport infrastructure seriously lacks in many ways. The LRT is pretty convenient if you live close to the stations. However for folks living in outskirt towns, we're stuck with the super slow and unreliable KTM.

For some there is the option of taking the ERL to KL Sentral but at exorbitant prices of RM9.50 per way! Can someone explain to me why this ride costs so much? The trains are barely filled even at peak hours due to the high cost.

While I'm hoping the upcoming MRT projects will make a difference, none of it will matter if it is too expensive.

Cost-effective solutions needed

While I don’t think we should have RM0.30 tickets, we do need cost-effective solutions, if the government is sincerely looking into making Malaysians more receptive to public transport.

If I lived in Mumbai, I wouldn’t need a car. I could take a train everywhere and use the auto (tuk tuk) to travel around an area. The cost was just Rs20-30 (RM1.40-RM2) for a few kilometres.

That brings me to the question of taxies. Some LRT station taxis charge exorbitant amounts for short distances. What would have been an RM5 ride often turns into double the amount.

With all these problems and a MRT project that is not ready, why were the tolls increased?