Rapid KL (brand)

Prasarana's Rapid KL
service brand
Overview
Locale Klang Valley, Malaysia
Transit type
Number of lines
  • LRT: 2 ( 3  4  &  5 )
  • Monorail : 1 ( 8 )
  • BRT : 1 ()
Number of stations
  • LRT: 49
  • Monorail : 11
  • BRT: 7
Daily ridership
  • LRT:
    388,327 (2012)
  • Monorail:
    67,703 (2012)[1]
  • Bus:
    400,000 (2014)
Operation
Began operation 16 December 1995
Operator(s) Rapid Rail and Rapid Bus
Technical
System length
  • LRT: 56 km
  • Monorail: 8.6 km
  • BRT: 5.4 km
Track gauge 1,435 mm (standard gauge)

Rapid KL (styled as rapidKL; ) is a service brand used by Prasarana Malaysia subsidiaries companies to refer the public transportation services dedicated for Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley area. It is acronym for Rangkaian Pengangkutan Intergrasi Deras Kuala Lumpur. The service brand name used by Rapid Rail on LRT & monorail services and Rapid Bus on BRT & stage bus services.

History

Public transport restructuring

The need for Kuala Lumpur's public transport system to be revamped became apparent almost immediately after the LRT lines began commercial operations when their ridership was much lower than anticipated. This caused lower than expected revenue levels and the two LRT concessionaires, Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan Sdn Bhd (STAR-LRT) and Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA-LRT), could not repay their commercial loans. The financial crisis of 1997/1998 aggravated the situation. The two companies owed a total of RM5.7bil as at November 2001 when the government's Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC) restructured the debts of the two LRT companies.

The bus service in Kuala Lumpur was also facing problems with lower ridership because of an increase in private car usage and lack of capital investments. The two new bus consortia which were formed in the mid 1990s to take over all bus services in Kuala Lumpur - Intrakota Komposit and Cityliner - began facing financial problems. Intrakota had reportedly accumulated losses amounting to RM450mil from the 1997/1998 financial crisis until SPNB took over in 2003.

With lower revenue, the bus operators could not maintain their fleets, much less invest in more buses. Frequencies and service deteriorated as buses began breaking down.

Public transport usage in the Klang Valley area dropped to about 16% of all total trips.

Improvement steps

A 6-car manufactured by CSR Zhuzhou for Ampang LRT train at Awan Besar station
A refurbished 2-car ART Mark II for Kelana Jaya LRT train at Kelana Jaya LRT station.
SCOMI Sutra 4-car trainsets for KL Monorail
An Alexander Dennis Enviro500 MMC operated by Rapid Bus parked at Cheras Selatan depot
MAN 18.280 HOCL-NL (A84 chassis) using Rapid KL livery at bus stop in front of Hotel Furama, Jalan Pudu

Since taking over the LRTs and bus network, Rapid KL has taken steps to improve their service.

Rapid KL service brand

Rail

Main article: Rapid Rail

Rapid KL service brand carried on three rail network. The entire rail network operated by Rapid Rail is 56 km long and has 60 stations.These trains can travel up to 60km/h .In 2008, these rail network carry a total of over 350,000 passengers daily.[3]

Bus

Main article: Rapid Bus

Rapid KL also used by Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd for the first bus rapid transit service in Malaysia and it is also one of the largest stage bus operators in the Klang Valley, next to Metrobus. Currently, there are 98 stage bus routes and 39 feeder bus services which operate from LRT stations. The bus routes operated by Rapid Bus were previously operated by Intrakota Komposit Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Bhd; and Cityliner Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Park May Bhd. In 2008, Rapid Bus carried around 390,000 passengers daily.[3]

References

  1. "Integrating ITS Technologies To Improve Efficiency, Reliability and Safety of Transport System" (PDF). prasarana. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  2. Nik Anis & Dharmender Singh (28 July 2009). "Targets set for the six Key Result Areas". The Star.
  3. 1 2 "Penumpang Rapid KL naik mendadak". Utusan Malaysia. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2008.

External links

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