RAPID KL TO RECEIVE 200 NEW BUSES - 'We welcome your feedback says CEO'.
KUALA LUMPUR, March 24, 2005 – Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi Deras Sdn Bhd (RAPID KL) Chief Executive Officer Rein Westra today announced that the company expects to take delivery of 200 new buses within the next 12 months, but reminded passengers that the task of restructuring the public transport system would not be accomplished overnight.
“We are currently aiming to provide a 15 minute service on 13 routes accounting for around 30% of our total ridership,” said Mr Westra at a press conference at RAPID KL headquarters. “This has already resulted in a significant increase in passengers per week since RAPID KL began operations. Right now, we are stretching our resources to meet that commitment. As soon as we are able, we will provide an improved level of service to all the routes in the network, but we can’t do it all overnight,” he said.
RAPID KL currently has a total fleet of 1,055 buses of which 503 are on the road. This is an increase of 60 buses compared to the 443 vehicles on the road in November 2004.
“To achieve our goals, we need an additional 700 buses on the road,” said Mr Westra. “The Ministry of Finance has authorized us to purchase 200 new buses, the first batch of which will be operational within six to nine months, once we have outfitted and safety tested them. We have an aggressive repair and recovery programme in place to put out-of-service buses back on the road as quickly as possible”.
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RAPID KL also announced a recruitment program to attract 500 new bus drivers to staff the expanding network.
“We are offering all our bus drivers an innovative performance-based pay and incentive package,” said Mr Westra. “We are also reviewing working conditions for our drivers and ordering new uniforms to ensure higher levels of employee satisfaction and professionalism.”
Mr Westra also outlined plans to better integrate, coordinate and connect the public transport infrastructure. “Within the next six months we aim to have in place a common ticketing system across the RAPID KL network,” he said.
“RAPID KL has a world class rail system at its heart,” he added. “Our immediate task is to complement that system with a flexible and efficient bus service. We have a set of key performance indicators in place to ensure transparency and to measure our progress in achieving that task.”
Mr Westra encouraged passengers to contact RAPID KL with their feedback. “I personally review all the messages to our customer hotline every Monday morning,” he said. “I welcome any and all feedback I can get from our customers. I need that feedback to know where we need to improve.”
Customers can contact RAPID KL via its toll free hotline at 1-800-388-228 or by email at
suggest@rapidkl.com.my |
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