[22.09.2012] Go KL City Bus

Hey guys.. Hows the weekend treating you? Hope its good for all of you. Anyhow, took my IELTS exam yesterday and basically I finished and was in the middle of KL way before most of inhabitant's woke up and decided to go out.

So what does a guy like me do on a saturday morning you ask? haha.. Well I go and ride the Bus! 

... (Crickets..)

hahaha

yeah! thats what I did... ok2... its not just any bus, its this bus..

Whats with this bus you ask? Well.. its FREE for one thing...! In case you are still wondering and going where got.. nothing is free in KL! Surely there must be a catch or this is a limited thing... Fret not, as far as I know, there is no catch to it.

This bus system was created out of the plan to improve public transportation in Kuala Lumpur and to ease congestion in the Central Business District in Kuala Lumpur. By having this bus, not only does it allow you to ride for free, it connects you to the main important places in KL without having to pay or.. Eeep! Walk! 

Anyhow, the buses operate from 6am to 11pm and with a planned frequency of 5 minutes during peak hours and 15 minutes during off-peak hours.

Map of the routes. Seems good!

So whats good about this bus you ask that I have to make a post about it you ask?

Well basically first I want to try the damned thing out before I recommend it and I wanted to see whether its a good thing or not.

Ok. So I tried out the bus and managed to score a copy of the pamphlet which does provide some sort of good information about it. 

The interior of the bus is like any other Rapid KL bus and its air conditioned which is a good thing for those who melt in the Malaysian sun (or just sweating out all the good foods you had in KL) and the best part about the bus is that it has WIFI! haha.. This is especially good for tourists to KL as I know that as a tourist you will need all of you need all the internet you can get. ( I hate countries that are soo restrictive of their WIFI like Singapore! There you have to use their local carrier to be able to access WIFI in most places!). Also this bus is equipped with the ramp for wheelchair passengers to ride on and also the camera's as added security.

So whats the experience like? I guess it was good. I usually drive around in KL and I had a chance to feel like a tourist in KL as I rode with lots of expats(you know which kind) and the other tourists from china, middle east and the mat salleh's. The bus is spacious and meant for short trips I guess which was good for tourists too as there were lots of them trying it out!

It was also interesting to ride the bus by Pavillion (where I religiously try to avoid due to traffic and lack of parking on weekends) and also see the new H&M opening at Lot 10. The bus then drove by the new condominiums around the KLCC park which was also a new experience for me. The condo's there look extremely nice.. and this is coming from me who used to drive by the condo's near the Solaris/ Mont Kiara area daily. I think the area is really building up to be like Singapore which can mean all good things for us I guess. 

Anyhow my review is that I love this bus, I love the potential it has in lowering everyone's carbon foot print in KL and also I love that its free and I also love the WIFI (not that i really need it, but i'm just happy its there and kinda fast too!) and I love that its being utilized and readily available. I also love that he routes seems to go to most places I want to go to or just with a bit of a walk I can get to places I want to. I also love the scenic route that it goes through around KLCC. 

But here's the cons. I hate that its mostly used by foreigners and expats (the other ones) and there seems to be a serious apprehension by the local's towards riding buses. I dont know how much it is being utilized during the weekdays or during peak hours but I seriously hope people try it out and see how good this is (and us local's are paying for it I bet!). I hate that we have bus stands in KL and that those bus stands are being used as a parking lot by inconsiderate drivers or people waiting to pick up their friends. I know that its awhile, but imagine if the bus has to pick up a disabled person, would you expect the bus driver to see a disabled person if your car is blocking him/her and would you expect that disabled person to push his wheelchair onto the road? Lastly, I think the bus driver could be a bit slow in driving the bus... I did not like the views of things passing by too quickly but I guess the faster he is, the more people he gets to serve.

So I do hope you guys try out the bus and maybe drop a comment and let me know what you think of the bus. I do think its great and I work along one of the routes and any drop in terms of traffic would be great I believe. 

If you are planning to try the bus, it can be taken from KLCC LRT exit or from the Pasar Seni LRT. Here's a picture of where the bus is just in case... 

For more information look here!