Mohamad Fazli (right) handing out goodie bags to passengers boarding Bas Muafakat Johor at the launch of the Paloh-Kluang route. Looking on is Paloh assemblyman Lee Ting Han.
A NEW Bas Muafakat Johor route is enabling Paloh residents to travel to Kluang.
Dayang Abang Khalid said before the free service was introduced on Oct 1, she used to fork out RM50 to travel to Kluang and back to her village in Paloh.
“I don’t drive, so I hired a taxi whenever I wanted to go to government offices in Kluang.
“It is more convenient now with the Paloh-Kluang bus route. It helps us save money,” said the housewife.
Dayang says she used to fork out RM50 for a round trip to Kluang from Paloh.Another passenger, Ng Chui Cheng, said she was glad that she could visit Kluang more often since the free bus service was introduced.
“I used to take a round trip costing RM8 from Paloh to Kluang, but that bus service ceased operations,” said Ng.
“It has been years since we had public transportation for this route.
“Before the bus service was introduced, I would wait for my children, who are working outstation, to come back and drive me to Kluang to run errands.”
She added that the journey on the bus route took about 50 minutes.
Ng said she enjoyed going to Kluang with her friends to eat and shop.
Johor works, transportation and infrastructure committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the Paloh-Kluang Bas Muafakat Johor service was the latest route to be introduced by the state government.
“The bus, which travels 54.4km each way, has four trips a day.
Ng says she previously had to rely on her children to drive her to Kluang.“It takes passengers from the Paloh bus station to the Kluang bus terminal, with several stops in between.
“I advise passengers to look at the schedule displayed at bus stops so they do not have to wait too long for the bus,” he said.
Mohamad Fazli added that prior to the service, Paloh residents had to hire taxis to get to Kluang as there were no ehailing services in the smaller town.
The state government, he said, through Johor Public Transport Corporation (PAJ) was planning to introduce more free bus routes soon.
He expected the additional services to be announced in next year’s state budget.
Mohamad Fazli said state and federal government agencies were spending about RM28mil to operate Bas Muafakat Johor, which plies 64 routes statewide.
