Tuesday September 22, 2009
Bus users are mainly foreigners
By R.K.SHYAMALA
PETALING JAYA: A character in Sex and the City once said that “nobody in New York notices a bus until it’s about to hit them.”
Maybe that rings true for many Malaysians, who tend to shun this mode of public transport. Bus services here are mainly “sustained” by foreign students and workers.
Although bus companies have no official statistics on commuter profile, random checks in bus stands around here and in Kuala Lumpur showed the ratio almost at one Malaysian to seven foreigners.
This is also evident in KL Sentral, where most of the foreign workers converge to catch a bus to their destination.
Even during the pre-Raya rush period, the bus services were mainly used by foreign workers.
The “minority” locals seen on buses are senior citizens and students.
Surainti Abdul Malik, a cleaner from Indonesia, does not mind taking buses here because “they are much cleaner and also air-conditioned” than the ones in Jakarta.
Among the popular bus routes for foreigners are Bandar Utama-KL Sentral, Subang Jaya-Klang and Klang-Pasar Seni.
Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd’s group communication general manager Ebi Azly Abdullah said there were no statistics to prove that more foreigners took the bus.
G.Thilaga, a business undergraduate at a private university, said many Malaysians felt that it was “uncool” to travel by bus.
“Most of them think they lack status if they do not own a car.”
But locals who don’t have their own transport have to use the bus.
Local housewife R. Santana Lechumi, 46, who lives in Subang, has no choice but to use the bus even though it is usually packed like sardines.
Shuhaida Ibrahim, a 15-year-old student from Subang Jaya, feels that buses are reliable.
“I usually take the bus home and so far, it is quite punctual,” Shuhaida said.
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