What do you call it then? Ineffective, corrupt, damn right wasteful…I could go on here but I’m guessing you get my drift. Believe it or not komuter service is the sole bread winner for KTM as the inter-city is mere window dressing that is running at a loss....and they can't even sustain their champion.
I’m just writing a few sentences here but my friend Afiza could probably churn out novels on this subject matter. She plies the KL Sentral to Shah Alam route. For those of you who haven’t got a clue about their travel itinerary; KTM Komuter line consists of 2 major paths, one of the route is Tanjung Malim to Sungai Gadut and the other being Batu Caves to Port Klang….to & fro, that is (it used to be Rawang to Seremban & Sentul to Port Klang respectively). KL Sentral is the main terminal where the Komuter, LRT & ERL cross paths…actually, they don’t cross each other but the Komuter does literally. That is the worst place to be at rush hour, especially for the KTM commuters. Delays are part of the standard operating procedures which is always blamed on “due to technical error”, (they never get tired of using this lame excuse for umpteen years now).
The scheduled waiting time is 15 minutes during peak hours, which is seldom the actual case. Peak hour at KL Sentral komuter station is like going into a war zone, it is total chaos. Snatch theft is the norm which is the main discussion of the regular passengers, telling stories of unsightly scenes that they have witnessed. I have personally seen that at least 5 times during my commuting days from 1996 to 2007 (that’s give or take, 20days x 12months x 11 years x 2 trips = 5280 trips)…these were frightening days that makes nightmare on elm street seem like child’s play. Given a choice, I would never go back to taking the komuter (unless its divine intervention). I’d rather take the bus to KL, end of story.
waiting in vain...
In those days, I would have written in many times to their on-line complaint bureau, sadly none of these grievances were ever looked into. At one point of time, there were as many as 20 – 30 trains lying in the workshop, waiting for parts that were never ordered due to obsolete spare parts. Even Pak Lah tried to take the komuter once, he had to board the second train as the first one was too crowded. On the very next day, the media were screaming for blood. As usual, it was just another current story which died down when the next current issue appeared.
show time
One good thing about the whole experience though was I managed to get acquainted with a lot of people. These were good sub-urban folks who were travelling to the city via public commute as they did not have any other means of travel.
It has been about 4 years since I last took a KTM komuter, but based on what I hear from Afiza, I ain’t missing nothing at all.
Journalists were more interested in covering Pak Lah commuting the train than taking action. Just another newspaper headlines. If the politician are so eager to test out commuting train/lrt..perhaps their should do it at peak hours without any escorts.
ReplyDeletethey have no such interests Jo....coz when they ride, it'll always be in a motorcade with a dozen outriders...
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