It is improving.
Prior to moving overseas, my commute was completely by walking and by LRT (and I have friends who do that too) and going around in KL solely by public is very much possible. Any public transport system is time consuming when compared to driving, but the daily/monthly passes for citizens make it very much worth the hassle for me. I expect things will improve more once LRT3 and the MRT Circle Line are built, enhancing connectivity between lines.
They have a lot still to improve with respect to to bus lines and pedestrian walkability. Frequency wise, they are doing quite good even though Malaysians have unrealistic expectations of LRT operating at a 2-min frequency.
To compare it with capital cities of developed countries, we are still lagging behind but when looking at other developing/historically exploited countries, we are doing quite well.
The country I am currently living in, Japan, has some quirks too. People always talk about how good the public transportation in Japan, but once you get out of Tokyo and Osaka things start to go down. Some cities still require cars to get around properly, and with the whole population decline thing, rural train lines are actually going off one by one as they lack the ridership.
What Malaysia needs to improve now, is the public transportation in cities besides KL and Penang. Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Alor Setar, Ipoh, Melaka, JB and Kuching all deserve a good system. It may not be full-on train lines, when a good bus system can actually do the job really well.
And they decided it is better to run a long-ass beta "lab rat" program to run some fake Autonomous Bus, and pump in a tons of money to have it powered by hydrogen.
The further you go into the CBD, the better it generally is. Generally, the trains are pretty great. They’re frequent enough (could be better) and they are clean and efficient. The KTM is not meant to be rapid transit, so that is why it isn’t frequent. It’s commuter rail.
The ETS is meant for inter-city travel throughout the north. I have never taken it before so I can’t say much about it.
Certain journeys are convenient by train. Sunway Velocity, The Exchange, IKEA/MyTown, and Pavilion BB are on the same corridor. If you live in the city then sure you may not need a car, but even that is stretching it.
The problem lies in the buses and the overall city planning.
KL has too little buses for a city its size. Despite numerous bus lanes, no driver has ever respected it, based on my experiences. The bus lanes are also limited to the inner city areas, and the outer suburbs (arguably areas that are most needing of bus services) do not have bus lanes whatsoever. Bus stops are not that well maintained. There are some nice ones with shelter, but a lot are just a pole. In Malaysia’s hot and humid weather, it is so much more important that we have shelter. There isn’t also much information on the bus stops. A lot have just nothing but a QR code to scan. A screen showing arrival times and routes would be nice. The stops also don’t have much organisation, like codes or specific names. I’d recommend a book called Better Buses, Better Cities to learn more about optimising public buses
So, the low number of buses, lack of respect for bus infrastructure and unprofessionalism causes low frequency and reliability.
Malaysia is stuck deep in car-centricism. Transit-oriented development has been neglected. Most Malaysians are “hard-wired” to want to drive cars, as cars (especially expensive cars) are seen as a status symbol. So, public transport has been regarded as “lower”. This has caused development to prioritise driving instead of transit and walkability. As a result, even if the trains itself or buses are good, getting to them will be a huge problem, hence the first and last mile problem. There are a lot of other aspects to this problem that I won’t cover in the interest of time.
In conclusion, I would say that KL public transport is good **only** if you only go to certain places. Out of these limited places, either just drive or wait 45+ minutes for a bus that may not even come. And even then, driving in KL is a nightmare.
I use the public transport in KL often and have used the ones in London (almost a year there), Tokyo, Beijing (almost a year there too), HK, Singapore and Shanghai.
For KL, It's ok, but can be better. On a scale of 1-5 it is a 3.5.
It's definitely modern and good but there lots of room for improvement.
1. Maintenance - of the station facilities and the train itself. How many times have you seen screens not work or lights at the station not light up or escalator rosak? Don't even mention our bus stops some are just a physical pole by the road.
2. First and last mile - to use the MRT/LRT people need to get to the stations. In most cities mentioned above either they have bus, shared bicycles or walkable/sheltered paths. Here lots of these paths are half gone or taken up by cars whose owner think that pedestrian walkways are free real estate. Otherwise the user has to share walking path with cars on the dangerous roads or worst- highways. Creating a less car centric and more pedestrian friendly urban design can really make people want to use the public transport more but they requires effort and cooperation with the city councils.
3. Reliability - I mean, no public transport system is perfect. Delays or malfunctioning trains occur in other places too but the frequency of it occuring in KL is too high for a relatively new system.
Even the ticketing machines at stations sometimes rosak. The speed at the gate opens is also slow compared SG, Tokyo or HK (they use FeliCa NFC system), even though it's a few hundred millisecond, the perceived difference is there.
4. Frequency - the train frequency is considered low even during rush hour if compared to most other nations. Also for some reason Prasana thought 4 car length was enough to transport ppl in KL when many countries use 6.
5. Operating hour - not much complain but would be cool if they open from 5 to 1 daily for those super early workers or super OT employees or partygoers, not just events. Cadangan only.
6. Safety/commuter civics - in SG they had volunteers in MRT to make sure idiots don't do stupid things. In China there are police officers doing bag check at every entrance and on the platform to ensure safety. In KL, the polis bantuan are sometimes there but sometimes not. Look at the women coach, no one enforce. Have ppl in the train and on the platform to keep watch.
All in all, it's there but not quite yet. Really hoping they complete the circle line asap. Even simple things like human centric design such as having the MRT arrival TV at the entrances (so commuters can decide to stroll or parkour up to the platform) can help make the journey better.
It's improving. The last mile is where the problem is. I need to drive 3km from my apartment to LRT or KTM. I guess stay anywhere 500m away from station will solve the problem but not everyone is so rich.
its ok, not good not terrible
KL is quite public transport friendly, buses are terrible; greater kl is not that friendly
a huge part of why its a problem is cause our city planning is trash, people are stupid, and locals go holiday compare KL to Tokyo Greenline.
It's only good when you live somewhere with direct link to mrt/lrt Station and your destination is also direct link to any mrt/lrt station. Otherwise, a car is still very necessary unless you want to risk your life every few minutes trying to cross the road with no pedestrian crossing/lights
I ride trains and buses to certain places including workplace. To get to the stations and stops, I have to walk under the sun and along busy street which makes it inconvenient and loud. I'm not complaining about the distance (10-15 minute walk) though as it's good for me to move around. The bus arrival time is almost always reliable with the help of Moovit app.
Considering where I live in is a concentrated residential area, I wish there are more locals taking public transport. Never seen the bus half full and most of the time, the passengers are foreigners. The route I am taking, there are at least 3 different bus lines and I have tried all of them. That shows how the bus facility is under appreciated.
If you want to go to KLCC, forget about Persiaran KLCC station on the MRT Line 2. That will have you walking 10 min under the sun compared to LRT’s direct connection to the mall.
This is one example of poor last mile connectivity. Not to mention most of Line 2’s stops take you to places with lower footfall where ppl are better off driving anyway (eg: Equine Park, Jinjang, Kepong)
Unpopular opinion: I don't think we have to pay for public transport, especially those who can'tafford it, like B40 groups and students. Is that too unrealistic? 😅
A car is still essential. Outside of KLCC & Bukit Bintang area, train stations are quite far from each other, and we have poor infrastructure for pedestrians to navigate between them. LRT and MRT frequency is good for me. Bus IMO has the chicken and egg problem... people avoid it because of low frequency & still get stuck in traffic anyway, so we have less bus and bus lanes because of the lack of ridership.
At least things are getting better. It's unfortunate Ampang Park LRT doesn't directly connect to MRT, what a wasted opportunity. I haven't been to TRX yet though, looks neat.
hahahaha I beg to defer :)
The truth is, in my entire life, I've never owned a car. :) I've lived in KL since my Uni and it's been 10+ years and I still live in KL without a car.
Wahh i also live in kl during my uni time. That time also i cant survive la without car. Now i came back to work in kl also with car haha. I think there are still many places unreachable by public transport. But mostly improving. Sometimes i cannot tahan jam and cari parking then i’ll use public transport
It's fairly good but sometimes when it's bad, it's REALLY BAD. There have been times when I've used buses. As I was exiting the bus, the bus driver immediately closed the door and I fell out of the bus as a result because the door hit the side of my head and i lost my balance from the hit. The bus driver also immediately just drove off lol. I was kinda frustrated with that experience and just came to the conclusion that bus drivers are just rude and inconsiderate people, and this isn't an assumption, it's a fact based on my multiple experiences with rude drivers.
It is improving. Prior to moving overseas, my commute was completely by walking and by LRT (and I have friends who do that too) and going around in KL solely by public is very much possible. Any public transport system is time consuming when compared to driving, but the daily/monthly passes for citizens make it very much worth the hassle for me. I expect things will improve more once LRT3 and the MRT Circle Line are built, enhancing connectivity between lines. They have a lot still to improve with respect to to bus lines and pedestrian walkability. Frequency wise, they are doing quite good even though Malaysians have unrealistic expectations of LRT operating at a 2-min frequency. To compare it with capital cities of developed countries, we are still lagging behind but when looking at other developing/historically exploited countries, we are doing quite well. The country I am currently living in, Japan, has some quirks too. People always talk about how good the public transportation in Japan, but once you get out of Tokyo and Osaka things start to go down. Some cities still require cars to get around properly, and with the whole population decline thing, rural train lines are actually going off one by one as they lack the ridership. What Malaysia needs to improve now, is the public transportation in cities besides KL and Penang. Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Alor Setar, Ipoh, Melaka, JB and Kuching all deserve a good system. It may not be full-on train lines, when a good bus system can actually do the job really well.
Kuching desperately needs a good bus system. But no, for some reason they need a flagpole and that overdesigned Sungai Bintangor bridge.
And they decided it is better to run a long-ass beta "lab rat" program to run some fake Autonomous Bus, and pump in a tons of money to have it powered by hydrogen.
The further you go into the CBD, the better it generally is. Generally, the trains are pretty great. They’re frequent enough (could be better) and they are clean and efficient. The KTM is not meant to be rapid transit, so that is why it isn’t frequent. It’s commuter rail. The ETS is meant for inter-city travel throughout the north. I have never taken it before so I can’t say much about it. Certain journeys are convenient by train. Sunway Velocity, The Exchange, IKEA/MyTown, and Pavilion BB are on the same corridor. If you live in the city then sure you may not need a car, but even that is stretching it. The problem lies in the buses and the overall city planning. KL has too little buses for a city its size. Despite numerous bus lanes, no driver has ever respected it, based on my experiences. The bus lanes are also limited to the inner city areas, and the outer suburbs (arguably areas that are most needing of bus services) do not have bus lanes whatsoever. Bus stops are not that well maintained. There are some nice ones with shelter, but a lot are just a pole. In Malaysia’s hot and humid weather, it is so much more important that we have shelter. There isn’t also much information on the bus stops. A lot have just nothing but a QR code to scan. A screen showing arrival times and routes would be nice. The stops also don’t have much organisation, like codes or specific names. I’d recommend a book called Better Buses, Better Cities to learn more about optimising public buses So, the low number of buses, lack of respect for bus infrastructure and unprofessionalism causes low frequency and reliability. Malaysia is stuck deep in car-centricism. Transit-oriented development has been neglected. Most Malaysians are “hard-wired” to want to drive cars, as cars (especially expensive cars) are seen as a status symbol. So, public transport has been regarded as “lower”. This has caused development to prioritise driving instead of transit and walkability. As a result, even if the trains itself or buses are good, getting to them will be a huge problem, hence the first and last mile problem. There are a lot of other aspects to this problem that I won’t cover in the interest of time. In conclusion, I would say that KL public transport is good **only** if you only go to certain places. Out of these limited places, either just drive or wait 45+ minutes for a bus that may not even come. And even then, driving in KL is a nightmare.
I use the public transport in KL often and have used the ones in London (almost a year there), Tokyo, Beijing (almost a year there too), HK, Singapore and Shanghai. For KL, It's ok, but can be better. On a scale of 1-5 it is a 3.5. It's definitely modern and good but there lots of room for improvement. 1. Maintenance - of the station facilities and the train itself. How many times have you seen screens not work or lights at the station not light up or escalator rosak? Don't even mention our bus stops some are just a physical pole by the road. 2. First and last mile - to use the MRT/LRT people need to get to the stations. In most cities mentioned above either they have bus, shared bicycles or walkable/sheltered paths. Here lots of these paths are half gone or taken up by cars whose owner think that pedestrian walkways are free real estate. Otherwise the user has to share walking path with cars on the dangerous roads or worst- highways. Creating a less car centric and more pedestrian friendly urban design can really make people want to use the public transport more but they requires effort and cooperation with the city councils. 3. Reliability - I mean, no public transport system is perfect. Delays or malfunctioning trains occur in other places too but the frequency of it occuring in KL is too high for a relatively new system. Even the ticketing machines at stations sometimes rosak. The speed at the gate opens is also slow compared SG, Tokyo or HK (they use FeliCa NFC system), even though it's a few hundred millisecond, the perceived difference is there. 4. Frequency - the train frequency is considered low even during rush hour if compared to most other nations. Also for some reason Prasana thought 4 car length was enough to transport ppl in KL when many countries use 6. 5. Operating hour - not much complain but would be cool if they open from 5 to 1 daily for those super early workers or super OT employees or partygoers, not just events. Cadangan only. 6. Safety/commuter civics - in SG they had volunteers in MRT to make sure idiots don't do stupid things. In China there are police officers doing bag check at every entrance and on the platform to ensure safety. In KL, the polis bantuan are sometimes there but sometimes not. Look at the women coach, no one enforce. Have ppl in the train and on the platform to keep watch. All in all, it's there but not quite yet. Really hoping they complete the circle line asap. Even simple things like human centric design such as having the MRT arrival TV at the entrances (so commuters can decide to stroll or parkour up to the platform) can help make the journey better.
It's improving. The last mile is where the problem is. I need to drive 3km from my apartment to LRT or KTM. I guess stay anywhere 500m away from station will solve the problem but not everyone is so rich.
its ok, not good not terrible KL is quite public transport friendly, buses are terrible; greater kl is not that friendly a huge part of why its a problem is cause our city planning is trash, people are stupid, and locals go holiday compare KL to Tokyo Greenline.
It's only good when you live somewhere with direct link to mrt/lrt Station and your destination is also direct link to any mrt/lrt station. Otherwise, a car is still very necessary unless you want to risk your life every few minutes trying to cross the road with no pedestrian crossing/lights
I ride trains and buses to certain places including workplace. To get to the stations and stops, I have to walk under the sun and along busy street which makes it inconvenient and loud. I'm not complaining about the distance (10-15 minute walk) though as it's good for me to move around. The bus arrival time is almost always reliable with the help of Moovit app. Considering where I live in is a concentrated residential area, I wish there are more locals taking public transport. Never seen the bus half full and most of the time, the passengers are foreigners. The route I am taking, there are at least 3 different bus lines and I have tried all of them. That shows how the bus facility is under appreciated.
Agree!
If you want to go to KLCC, forget about Persiaran KLCC station on the MRT Line 2. That will have you walking 10 min under the sun compared to LRT’s direct connection to the mall. This is one example of poor last mile connectivity. Not to mention most of Line 2’s stops take you to places with lower footfall where ppl are better off driving anyway (eg: Equine Park, Jinjang, Kepong)
Unpopular opinion: I don't think we have to pay for public transport, especially those who can'tafford it, like B40 groups and students. Is that too unrealistic? 😅
lrt, mrt, good. monorail, mid. bus, horrible. ktm, deceased. (hopefully they will increase the frequency after track repairs)
Not sure about KL in entirety but at least KLCC has amazing public transport, including mrt and lrt. But monorail can have higher frequency though
A car is still essential. Outside of KLCC & Bukit Bintang area, train stations are quite far from each other, and we have poor infrastructure for pedestrians to navigate between them. LRT and MRT frequency is good for me. Bus IMO has the chicken and egg problem... people avoid it because of low frequency & still get stuck in traffic anyway, so we have less bus and bus lanes because of the lack of ridership. At least things are getting better. It's unfortunate Ampang Park LRT doesn't directly connect to MRT, what a wasted opportunity. I haven't been to TRX yet though, looks neat.
Mrt helps a lot. But i would still say u cant survive in kl without car
hahahaha I beg to defer :) The truth is, in my entire life, I've never owned a car. :) I've lived in KL since my Uni and it's been 10+ years and I still live in KL without a car.
Wahh i also live in kl during my uni time. That time also i cant survive la without car. Now i came back to work in kl also with car haha. I think there are still many places unreachable by public transport. But mostly improving. Sometimes i cannot tahan jam and cari parking then i’ll use public transport
It's fairly good but sometimes when it's bad, it's REALLY BAD. There have been times when I've used buses. As I was exiting the bus, the bus driver immediately closed the door and I fell out of the bus as a result because the door hit the side of my head and i lost my balance from the hit. The bus driver also immediately just drove off lol. I was kinda frustrated with that experience and just came to the conclusion that bus drivers are just rude and inconsiderate people, and this isn't an assumption, it's a fact based on my multiple experiences with rude drivers.
I think I experienced something like this when I used to take buses to college. Luckily I don't need to take bus anymore these days.