With a population of about 2 million, Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia's largest city and also the capital. Spread across 243 square kilometres, public transport is a critical infrastructure for the population.
As car ownership in Malaysia rises, more people opt to drive to work. There are so many cars in Malaysia that in 2021, there will be more registered vehicles (33.3 million) in Malaysia than the Malaysian population (32.6 million). Note, though, that it is unclear if the statistics include vehicles that had been struck off but are still driven by their owners.
With such a high number of vehicles on the road, no wonder Kuala Lumpur is almost always suffering from traffic jams.
Therefore, it is a blessing that the government decided to declare dedicated bus lanes in Kuala Lumpur in July 2023. The bus lane initiative was deemed to be successful in that it would be expanded to Penang.
Despite the government declaring the bus lanes as a success, the reality on the ground seemed to be different. There is no enforcement to ensure that the bus lane is dedicated only to buses and taxis. Without enforcement, ordinary vehicles flout the rules and use the bus lanes with impunity.
But ordinary vehicle drivers are not fully at fault. The pre-existing designs of the roads in Kuala Lumpur made it difficult to maintain a dedicated bus lane. For example, the Jalan Genting Klang is largely a three-lane wide road on each side. But the road would be squeezed into two-lane roads on each side just in front of the Setapak Police Station.
There is also no indication of how soon an ordinary vehicle can enter the bus lane before turning into a junction. The lack of clarity also makes it difficult for the enforcement of the bus lanes.
Perhaps these are the issues that the local authority, be they the Road Transport Department or the Kuala Lumpur City Council, needs to look into before expanding the number of bus lanes throughout the city.
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