BusStop for who?

I have no idea how bus-stops in Petaling Jaya are commissioned, but I’m sure there must be a flowchart for the process which involves various relevant parties like the bus company since they are providing the service. I would think that the route is recce’d and proposed locations of the bus-stop shelters are tabled for approval.

I live in Ara Damansara, RapidKL Route T607, the bus travels the road directly behind my house and there are 2 bus-stops nearby, across the road from each other. One on the incoming journey (get-off), and the other on the outgoing journey (get-on). I also took the bus one day for the experience and to learn the route.

Recently construction of bus-stop shelters began around Ara Damansara, commendable effort, but is it? People use the bus-stop shelters to WAIT for the bus. The bus-stop shelter is not of much use to people getting off the bus. So when the construction of an ultra-modern bus-stop shelter was appointed across the road from my house I could only shake my head in dismay. Obviously whoever’s task it was to appoint the location of these shelters had no idea of the logistics of RapidKL’s Route T607 because the bus-stop shelter is located on the incoming get-off side of the route, not on the outgoing get-on side.



The picture attached speaks volumes, see the poor soul waiting for the once-an-hour bus while sitting on the road-kerb; looking longingly at the brand new shiny bus-stop shelter across the road where passengers get off the bus as it journeys into Ara Damansara. To be fair, 2 other bus-stop shelters are appointed on the outgoing route. I guess 2 out of 3 ain’t bad normally, but what do you think each of these bus-stops cost ~ easily RM10k +.

Then of course there’s the route to think about as well. I experimented the route one day, as my 70+ year old mother lamented that when the service first started, Bus 607 would take her to Carrefour in Subang Jaya, so easy she was gleeful at the independent freedom while I was at work. She’s from out of town and does not drive. A few months later on another visit, she was looking forward to another independent visit to Carrefour, but the adventure she endured was just too much for a “warga-emas” to bear, no more Carrefour en route.

So I took the bus to see what the fuss was about. Again where’s the wisdom? I believe buses serve a public purpose and there is no wisdom in a route that does not pass a mall, school and if possible a medical facility. People who use the bus, apart from working people are those who don’t have cars, the elderly and the school-children. Rapid RouteT607 does not pass any of the high-traffic amenities mentioned above. T607 merely takes its passengers to the Kelana LRT station where all get off and have to change to other buses to take them onward. How idiotically inconvenient? The kids who go to school in Kelana Jaya have to get off on the opposite side of the murderous LDP and cross over to their school.

Isn’t it also a logical presumption that a bus route should cover as much high-density population areas? Well take a ride on T607 and discover how wrong my logic is. Would you put a bus route through PJU 1A/41 which plies the high-rise Crimson Damansara or cut back into Ara Damansara on PJU 1A/1 which is waste land on one side and upmarket landed properties across?

PJU 1A/41 [high-rise Crimson Damansara] t-junctions onto PJU 1A/40 which passes the length of Taman Putra Damai, Lembah Subang an extremely high-density residence. No, instead T607 turns into 1A/1 [another RM10k+ bus-stop here] so that it’s passengers can view the scenic wasteland; then it cuts through the bottom end of Taman Putra Damai via a narrow dirt road that is deeply potholed.

By the way, PJU 1A/40 also runs alongside the Putra LRT’s non-station depot. But that gripe is for another blog… keep tuned.

Why oh why do we pay rates to pay non-sense to provide for our community?