I took KTM Komuter last Tuesday into KL city to catch Black Swan. My usual hang-out cineplex where I could drive to did not screen Black Swan, what a bummer! So I was forced to make a trip down to KL city for this very purpose.
As I am the type of person who always catches the first screening of the day for any movie I want to watch at the cineplex, I would often take KTM Komuter quite early in the morning. That Tuesday saw me taking the train before nine o'clock in the morning. As it was a week day, naturally the train was packed to the brim like a can of sardines mostly with office workers.
The ride was extremely uncomfortable, although I did manage to hop on to the 'Ladies Only' coach, it didn't help much as the coach was packed beyond its holding capacity with hardly any room to manoeuvre. It has been almost 20 years since KTM Komuter first started its services. If my memory serves me right, hardly any improvements were done to make Komuter an appealing means of public transportation. People would take it when it is only viable to do so, when buses and taxis are not an option.
It was even packed almost to the brim when I took it home BEFORE the peak hour rush started on that same day. It baffles me why hardly anything was done to improve its services. On the other hand, the LRT services have shown marked improvements in their services, and I actually quite enjoyed the ride on it. I actually have not taken a ride on KTM Komuter and LRT for more than two years.
After this particular experience riding KTM Komuter and LRT services, I have come to the conclusion that as long as not much improvement are being continuously carried out, many of us would rather drive to the places we need to go. Implementing another new public transportation project without improving the existing one defeats the purpose of providing a world-class public transportation for the public. I would rather have an extremely efficient existing public transport system than a new public transport system simply because less public funds would be spent.
Unless the existing public transport system failed to serve its purpose well, then a new public transportation project should only be considered as a solution to improve it.
I can't get a schedule, and in SJ you either bake in the heat or get drenched in the rain as there is no cover. It's NOT the way to go to a meeting and still look fresh and tidy.
ReplyDeleteYup, I know how you feel. I've stopped at the SJ station too quite a number of times previously. Taking the Komuter is like going into the battlefield and fighting a great war!
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