It came as quite a surprise last week when Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the Cabinet Committee on Public Transportation was going to review a proposal to create a single National Public Transport Commission, to streamline government regulations, oversight, and enforcement that was currently under 13 agencies in four government ministries.

Even more surprising was that, at that same press conference, Najib also announced that the subsidy given to RapidKL was 'unfair' and would be withdrawn effective immediately.

On one hand, the government is taking steps to improve public transportation, and on the other hand they are effectively cutting off a financial lifeline for urban public transportation. These contradictory actions by Najib show us once again that the government really has a poor understanding of the public transport system that it has created.

Under the current system, the government has failed to clearly state the role of different public transport operators. School buses and express buses and intercity buses and urban buses are all lumped in under the same designation, even though these operators provide vastly different services.

Urban bus operators focus on the prime profitable routes and cut costs by using the illegal leasing system and violating traffic laws. RapidKL a government-owned company was expected to provide decent public transport services. Unfortunately, something went wrong and now the company is treated as a Sendirian Berhad (a private operator) by the government and local authorities.

The withdrawal of subsidy for RapidKL appeared to be a sudden move but it has come as a result of pressure applied by other bus operators. The decision was based on the idea that the subsidy was ‘unfair’ though this ‘unfairness’ was created by the government with positive intentions.

The government was told years ago through independent studies that the only way to create a real effective public transport network is through the use of government-regulated operators, a local public transport authority, and an effective system of subsidy.

RapidKL (Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi Deras - literally Rapid Integrated Transport Network) and before that Intrakota were set-up to provide a reliable and effective public transportation network. The government was also supposed to create the Kuta, the Klang Valley Urban Transport Authority to have regulation, planning and enforcement at the local level. Finally, the finance ministry would provide the financing and subsidy.

The government created Intrakota and RapidKL and they have provided the subsidy through the finance ministry. However, they failed to complete the other crucial step which was to create the local public transport authority. Perhaps this failure came about because of pressure from the same bus companies. That is why I am now worried that the government may just act to create an over-centralized, top heavy system that recreates the mistakes of the existing system and favours the private bus operators.

The proposed National Public Transport Commission (I'll call it ‘Span’ - Suruhanjaya Peangangkutan Awam Negara) must be a completely new agency with completely new responsibilities for public transportation - not just the CVLB with teeth. It must focus on making public transport work at the regional and local levels, rather than mere decision-making at Putrajaya that reflects a clear lack of understanding of what is really happening on the roads and the rails.

The new ‘Span’ has a role to play but it is never going to replace the need for local and regional public transport authorities like ‘Kuta’. To make the ‘Span’ successful, the government will have to create effective regional or local public transport authorities to plan, regulate and monitor public transport at the local or regional levels. ‘Span’ would coordinate the local or regional authorities and help create national standards for public transportation and provide major funding.

In other words, ‘Span’ will not be effective unless the government also goes ahead and creates ‘Kuta’ (the proposed Klang Valley Urban Transport Authority) and the other proposed regional and local public transport authorities.

The benefits of a system of national and regional or local authorities is that it will allow better planning and regulation and monitoring and enforcement of public transport services. Used properly, the system would benefit everyone, from the federal, state and local governments to the bus operators and bumiputera entrepreneurs, and especially the public.

In the meantime, the government has used the review of subsidies as an excuse to withdraw the subsidy for RapidKL. The people, the consumers associations, the NGOs and the wakil rakyat must ask why the government created and subsidised RapidKL but did not implement the third step which was ‘Kuta’. We must also ask why the government has suddenly decided to withdraw the subsidy and create a new fare scheme without proper public consultation.

It is this very centralised, confusing and bureaucratic authority that has brought public transportation down to its knees and created huge burdens for the rakyat. There is no need to wait until the government increases fuel prices come August. The government should explain their decisions (and the reasons behind these decisions) now.