[sustran] Re: Asia's 'only-poor-people-ride-transit', KL monorail & isolation

[Karl Fjellstrom]

Dear Su-Lin Che,

Being the 'second most successful' KL rail transit system - as you say the
monorail is - is not such a glowing accolade. Consider the competition...

PUTRA LRT went bankrupt and was nationalized in Nov 2001 with debts of more
than US$1.4 billion after only 3 years of operation. All the contractors,
designers, vehicle suppliers etc made fat profits and the company they set
up to operate PUTRA only had around 5% equity investment from them, so they
didn't lose much when it folded. 

STAR, the other main mass transit system, a heavy rail system, was better,
with debts of 'only' a few hundred million US$ after 5 years of operation,
and was also nationalized at the same time, with Ministry of Finance
completing the takeover in September 2002.

Quite apart from the financial performance the integration etc of these
systems was woeful, partly because the operator knew from the beginning that
they would never cover the operating cost, so there was not really an
incentive to maximize passengers.

As for the monorail being a fiasco, you are right this is probably a harsh
description and you surely know much better than me about the system. But
considering that:
- it was 8 years under construction
- a wheel fell off during a trial, striking a journalist, and
- two years after opening they had achieved only half the projected
passengers that they had forecast they would have 2 years earlier,
it's at least arguable that this might qualify as a 'fiasco'. Not to mention
that the last monorail station stops short by 200m or so from the main
transit terminal at KL Sentral as you mention.

The fact that it is 'almost always packed' doesn't really mean anything,
this just reflects the relatively long headways (5 minutes during the peak)
and the very low capacity of the system. At the monorail website
(http://www.monorail.com.my/monorail-info.htm) they explain that even under
the most optimistic scenario it has a maximum theoretical capacity of only
5,000 passnegers/hr/direction.

Karl Fjellstrom



-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+karl=dnet.net.id at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+karl=dnet.net.id at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf
Of Su-Lin Chee
Sent: Wednesday, 8 February 2006 10:24 AM
To: sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org
Subject: [sustran] Asia's 'only-poor-people-ride-transit',KL monorail &
isolation

As someone working on Kuala Lumpur's public transportation information 
system, I feel behooved to respond to some preceding posts:

1. Mr. Bradshaw's sustainable transportation comments: I agree 
wholeheartedly about the frustration of seeing Asians' "only-poor-
people-ride-transit bias." That, to me, is the paramount obstacle to 
KL's public transport usage, over and above political and economic 
issues. It is a class thinking and cars are seen as a class and status 
symbol. Public transport, especially buses, is seen as milling around 
with the masses and the marginals of society. The moment I mention the 
word "buses", it seems as if a mental barrier goes up in most middle 
class and above people - of horror and non-acceptability. What to do??

2. Mr. Fjellstromn's KL monorail comments: among KL's rail transit 
systems, the monorail may be deemed the 2nd most successful or maybe 
even the most successful, in terms of customer uptake and perceived 
relevance of route. It is almost always packed and goes through some 
of the city's most congested and popular parts. The one fiasco is how 
the line doesn't join up with KL's train hub: KL Sentral. 

3. Mr Pardo's Le Corbusier comment: Yes! The need to have engineers to 
plan fast cities has resulted in what I feel is a very isolating city. 
On an anecdotal level, many mid-term visitors to KL express feelings 
of alienation and a lack of ground-level community interaction.

Best wishes,

Su-Lin Chee

project manager
klang valley public transportation information system
vector designs
www.vectordesigns.org
54a jalan kemuja
bangsar utama
59000 kuala lumpur
tel/fax +603.22826363
mobile +6016.2183363


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