Loke tells govt: Up KTM frequency, rent shuttle buses, work with e-hailing firms on LRT crisis

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Former transport minister Anthony Loke today urged the caretaker government to buck up and resolve the crisis where 16 LRT stations have been shut down for seven days, offering simple tips such as renting buses from bus companies as a temporary measure.

Loke also said the caretaker government should increase the frequency and capacity of the KTM Komuter rail service as a temporary measure.

"What has to be done now is ensure there is a backup plan, there's an alternative plan to ensure public transport users have other modes of transportation. There must be an approach of all agencies coming together," he said.

"And although Parliament has been dissolved, but the caretaker minister still has the responsibility to ensure a more comprehensive plan, which is to deploy all available modes of transportation in KL, including maybe ordering KTM Komuter to increase frequency of trains in areas which may have Komuter, so the frequency and capacity of Komuter have to be added in this situation," he said.

While noting that Prasarana has already deployed additional buses as an alternative transportation method for affected LRT users, Loke said he was made to understand that the buses were very packed during peak hours.

“We have to take more drastic actions, which is not just to deploy Rapid KL buses. If there are not enough buses, have to rent shuttle buses from other bus companies, in order to deploy all available resources to handle this present transportation crisis,” the DAP secretary-general who is contesting in Seremban told reporters here during Pakatan Harapan’s press conference below the now-shuttered Universiti LRT station.

A free shuttle bus along the temporary bus route of LRT 3 set up for the LRT crisis is seen here at the Universiti LRT station. Nov 9, 2022. — Picture by Ida Lim

Loke said the Transport Ministry should contact e-hailing firms to see what could be done to help with the LRT crisis, to increase the mode of transportation available to public transport users.

Asked about the possibility of e-hailing companies imposing surcharges amid higher demand for rides with the LRT services disruption, Loke said: "That's why I say the caretaker transport minister must intervene."

Stressing the need for a contingency plan, he said: "If there's a need for government to subsidise in terms of the fare, the government can do it. Of course I am not asking e-hailing companies to come in and put a surcharge on commuters, this is part of crisis management, the government can do something."

"We must face this problem with responsibility. What we see today is no one is taking charge, everything just leave it to the Prasarana CEO. The Prasarana CEO has his limitations, he can only deploy what is in Prasarana, other agencies from Prasarana he has no power to deploy or to order other agencies to give cooperation, so there has to be intervention from caretaker ministers," he said, referring to public transport provider Prasarana Malaysia Berhad which is owned by the Finance Ministry but also deals with the Transport Ministry.

Loke also said the LRT problem will be a “top priority” for PH if it forms the government after the 15th general election.

"For Pakatan Harapan, certainly if we receive the mandate, this LRT problem will be our top priority because this is a very important mode of transportation, which we must pay attention to and ensure the reliability of this LRT service can be restored," he said.

Incumbent Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said he was in talks with e-hailing partners to provide free rides for affected LRT users in Lembah Pantai as a temporary "stop-gap" measure, and hoped to start such services as early as tomorrow.

Fahmi said the lack of proposals from the caretaker government showed it was not ready to be a government, and said he had come up with this idea to help Lembah Pantai residents get to their destinations — which they would usually reach through LRT services — through e-hailing services.

"So I'll be helping to subsidise, and these people need not be voters, I won't be asking them to vote for me, it's just community service. If the government fails to do, I do lah, like the flood problem, want to wait for the government to come? The government has failed again, this is proof, so we have to do something ourselves," he said.

Fahmi said the Universiti LRT station is typically very busy as it is where the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)-status office hub of Bangsar South is located, noting that the LRT disruptions had also resulted in traffic jams with many deciding to drive, such as where Lembah Pantai residents had said a typical five-minute drive of 100 metres to 200 metres from PPR Seri Pantai to Perumahan Pantai Permai had taken close to 40 minutes today.

Noting the lack of comments from the caretaker transport minister and caretaker finance minister, he said: "This is very sad, if they refuse to do their duty as caretaker ministers, I think after general elections, there's no need to be a minister. When the public is in difficulties, they keep quiet, they think of their own political fortunes. This to me is a very immoral, very irresponsible action and the public has to punish them in the general election," he said.

Press conference by former transport minister Anthony Loke and Pakatan Harapan election candidates Fahmi Fadzil, Khalid Samad, Zahir Hassan, and Rajiv Rishyakaran at Universiti LRT station on the one-week shutdown of 16 LRT stations in Universiti LRT station. Nov 9, 2022. — Picture by Ida Lim

Khalid Samad, who is contesting in the Titiwangsa seat, said the caretaker government appeared not to understand how serious this LRT crisis is and to have just left it to Prasarana to handle.

He said the caretaker government should have called all agencies involved for an emergency meeting to discuss solutions, alternatives and actions that can be taken to mitigate this crisis.

"This involves hundreds of thousands of commuters every day in KL, don't talk about productivity, punctuality, being efficient. In such situation, if we want to see productivity and economic recovery, call for a meeting, all ministers who are related, not just the transport minister, but the federal territories minister, and home minister who can direct the police on how to handle the resulting congestion," he said.

He noted that police resources are currently stretched during the election period, citing as an example that he once had 30 police officers at his ceramah or political speech in Titiwangsa when they should be out helping to mitigate the traffic jam caused by the LRT services breakdown.

"So the government must get its priorities right, the daily lives of the people in KL rely on the LRT service. So this is incompetence, and a lack of actual understanding of the problem, they don't understand, they think this is a small matter. We hope they pull their socks up and give the services as such," he said.

He pointed out the government needs to be involved in finding solutions such as by providing subsidies, as opposition leaders would not be able to ensure e-hailing companies do not impose surcharges or take advantage of the situation as the opposition is "not in a position of power".

"You can even talk about subsidies, giving them free fuel, so that you can relieve the difficulty. Because definitely the public themselves cannot absorb the additional cost, if previously they use LRT, there are advantages not just from the aspect of traffic but also from the price aspect. But if each day they have to use Grab, their cost will balloon up, so that's where the government will have to play a role," he said.

While the press conference was ongoing, an affected LRT user who was a member of the public came over and interjected by expressing her disappointment as an ordinary citizen of Malaysia, asking PH to sit down with other political parties to discuss action to be taken instead of seeking to blame individuals.

"Because we are suffering. So for tomorrow onwards, please discuss how to get public transportation for free from one station to another," the woman who did not name herself said, noting that e-hailing was very expensive.

Khalid then said PH is willing to sit down and help come up with ideas if the government calls for such a meeting, and said that was why PH was pushing the government on this matter.

Khalid also said pre-emptive maintenance work should have been done on the LRT system instead of just preventive maintenance, adding that continuous and reliable service can only be provided if it was operated and maintained professionally.

Zahir Hassan, PH's candidate for the Wangsa Maju seat, said this one-week disruption of LRT services across 16 major LRT stations was not an isolated case.

"We are aware this incident is not an isolated incident, on May 21 last year, so many were injured, and there were a few series of disruptions of this public service. What happened now is not an isolated case, but a series of disruptions had happened, so the government owes the people a detailed explanation why this happened," he said, also questioning how the federal government can achieve its target of having more Malaysians use public transport.

Pointing out that those in Taman Melati and Wangsa Maju this morning were stranded and late to work due to the LRT disruption, Zahir also questioned why the public was not receiving the level of service in accordance with the billions of ringgit of taxpayers' money spent to upgrade public transport services.

Bukit Gasing state assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran said the frequency and number of free shuttle buses have to be temporarily increased to cater to the affected LRT passengers, suggesting that bus drivers who are on leave can be recalled and those who are working normal shift hours could be asked to do overtime to fill this urgent need.

"But after that, don't forget to answer — did they fail to do maintenance because they mismanaged the money, or did they cancel the maintenance because they did not have enough money? Then MOF must answer, why did they cut the money that maintenance was neglected, or maybe they didn't cut the money and the money was wasted? But don't forget to answer this, Wee Ka Siong cannot forget to answer this, the MOF cannot forget to answer this," he said.