Kota Kinabalu: An overwhelming 98.3 per cent of 1,063 residents surveyed along the Sepanggar-KKIP-Telipok corridor support extending the Bas.My bus service to their area, with 94 per cent saying they would likely use it if the service became available.
The community survey conducted by the Department of Commerce, Politeknik Kota Kinabalu, from Oct 9 to 19 this year, also found that 97.6 per cent of respondents were aware of the Bas.My service, despite the absence of a route serving the corridor.
Senior lecturers Anbukkarasu Paramasivam and Noel Marcellus Micheal said in a joint statement that the findings highlighted a clear gap between public awareness of the service and access to it.
“This is not a corridor asking whether Bas.My should exist. It is a corridor asking why Bas.My has not yet arrived,” they said.
The survey covered residents from Sepanggar/Jalan Sulaman, Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), Telipok, Manggatal, Inanam/Kolombong and surrounding areas.
It found that 60.4 per cent of respondents did not own a personal vehicle, while about two-thirds came from households earning RM3,000 or less a month.
The lecturers said these findings underscored the importance of public transport for residents, particularly lower-income households, students and workers who depend on accessible and affordable mobility.
Despite the high awareness of Bas.My, only 34.3 per cent of respondents had ridden the service.
Among those who did not use it, 53.8 per cent cited the absence of a route near their homes or workplaces, while 22.7 per cent said existing routes did not serve their destinations.
The survey also found that most respondents who had used Bas.My did so only occasionally, with 54.8 per cent travelling on the service less than once a week.
The lecturers said this pattern was consistent with residents having to travel beyond their immediate areas to access existing bus stops.
Support for the proposed extension was strong across the areas surveyed, with combined approval reaching at least 90 per cent in every area sampled.
Of those surveyed, 94.1 per cent strongly agreed that Bas.My should be extended, while the remaining 1.7 per cent were undecided. No respondents opposed the proposal.
The intention to use the service was particularly strong among those with limited transport alternatives.
The survey found that 83.6 per cent of respondents without personal vehicles and 85.2 per cent of those relying solely on motorcycles said they were very likely to use Bas.My if the route was extended.
Meanwhile, 77 per cent said they would be willing to reduce their use of private vehicles if the bus service reliably served their corridor.
The lecturers said the findings indicated that extending Bas.My could help meet existing transport demand while encouraging a shift towards public transport.
They said the survey provided evidence of strong community support for extending the service into the fast-growing Sepanggar-KKIP-Telipok corridor, where residents were already familiar with Bas.My but lacked direct access to it.
The survey involved 1,063 respondents, comprising 61.6 per cent women and 38.4 per cent men. Nearly two-thirds were aged 30 and below, reflecting the significant presence of young people and students in the area.
