SHAH ALAM, 10 Apr: The Selangor Government will provide community buses for free to help the people and improve traffic flow which is congested in urban areas.
The free bus service will be implemented by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) and the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA), while the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) and the Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) is at the experimental level.
The Executive Councillor for Local Government, Datuk Teng Chang Kim, said that the costs allocated by MBSA for this service is RM629,076 annually, involving the purchase of buses, maintenance, fuel and driver services.
Meanwhile, MBPJ will allocate RM418,000 for the purchase of two buses and maintenance for a year.
For MPSJ, a sum of RM346,000 will be allocated for the purchases, while MPKj will allocate RM120,000 annually with a contract basis with existing bus operators.
The community bus service in Shah Alam started since 4 March this year at the Central Stop Centre in Section 14 and passes through Sections 2, 7, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18.
These buses operate on weekdays only, from Monday to Friday, starting at 7.30am, 11am and 4.30pm.
For MBPJ, this bus service began since July 2008 and is at a stage of upgrading to increase the number of buses to accommodate the growing number of users.
Chang Kim explained that this community bus service is not subsidised by the Land Transport Service Commission (SPAD) and is carried out at all local authority levels because it is implemented according to their financial means.
He added that the State Government and SPAD will consider the proposal to create a Rapid Bus Transit (RBT) from Kuala Lumpur to Klang, via the Federal Highway.
