(Adam enjoying his ride on the RapidKL shuttle bus.)My family and I went for a joy ride on the RapidKL shuttle bus this afternoon. We boarded the bus in front of the Concorde Hotel. The bus air-con was comfortable. The bus was clean. The bus was state of the art. CCTV cameras for the exit door even. The bus was near empty. Unlike all the commuters who have to endure crowded, smelly busses at rush hour to get to and from work, we enjoyed the ride for what it was.
But reading the commuter horror stories in The Sunday Star today I am glad that I do not have to depend on public transport to get to work. But if fuel prices keep going up I might have to follow our wise DPM's advice to change my lifestyl and 'accept' public transport. Withdraw some subsidies = increase in fuel prices and costs of living = change lifestyle and accept public transport = public transport system cannot cope with sudden overload of so many changed lifestyles = collapse of system = change lifestyle again = don't go to work = ask for subsidies = ...eh? what am I doing ah? Sorry ah. Got carried away there.
Yeah, the RapidKL bus we were on was great. Then we arrived at the RapidKL KLCC "hub". It was a joke. Hub? It's just a street side bus stop la, dei! And the busses have to share the road space with cars which use it illegally, tour busses which park there illegally and taxis which use it as a sort of "hub" too. First world Bus. Third world infrastructure. Then I took this photo of the RapidKL "hub"'s control centre...
(RapidKL's KLCC Control Centre)Man with cap: "RM2 kali 3 orang...ermmmmmmm"
Man with glasses: "Siapa ni ambik gambar?"
Man with grey hair: "Eh! Eh! Tengok awek tu. Mari. Duduk kat pak cik."
Man with black jacket: "Eh! Lu jangan cakap banyak. Gua ada senyum bila pandu bus."
The plastic bag on the table contained some nangka. It was close to 4 o'clock so I guess they were preparing for tea at the control centre. One can only imagine what those steel rulers are for. But being Malaysian, even those are bent:-)
13 comments:
Yes, definately these life style can't changed. Yo...oi! We kampong boys support strongly you guys in Bandar. Okay !? IS our way of life ma...
LOL!!!!!!! This is so classic! I wonder how does it look like at KLIA's control tower?
Yo! it was so funny. I hope Welstra is reading this......
Steel Rulers are used to cucuk the dollar notes into the ticket vending machine... usualy takes them few minutes! to cucuk all the notes into the Tabung!
King23
Aiyerr...
those Rulers look-alike is actually a state of the art, high tech Scratch 2000.
Able to measure out the itchy area around the back inch by inch ... the material use was of silver steel... the sort use as Silver Chopstick during the times of the Emperor of China for testing food poisoning. The silver is also very sanitise which would actually prevent infectiouse spora building up with usual wood itch scracher.
not bad maaa... High Tech oh... no need those Sim Sim Wa Wa massage units.. :P
Good one ah liong. high tech Scratch 2000. I like it. But I think anonymous may be closer to the truth. They use them to push the Ringgit notes into the slots. Another fine example of Bolehland planning. "Oops! Our machines can only take coins. And now you want to charge RM2 per ticket ah? I don't think raayat carry so much change around la." Actually, the couple of times that I have used the RapidKL shuttle bus I have come across passengers being shoo'ed off the bus by less than patient drivers because they didn't have the correct change. So in an area like KLCC it means that passengers would have to trek about 200 - 300 meters into the Suria KLCC, find some place which will change their money without having to spend some first, trek 200 - 300 meters back to the bus stop. Way to go! Another successful "Screw The People" project.
But to be fair to the Malaysian on the street I also did see one Good Samaritan on the bus offering to change money for the harassed passengers.
I don't have a car anymore so I travelled around by bus when I was back in KL a few months ago - something I hadn't done since school days. I was horrified by the conditions. And those steep steps into the bus: how the hell would an old or handicapped person navigate them?
Don't even get me started about the drivers. Just where do they get them from? I can only guess that they were mini bus (remember those monstrosities?) drivers in a previous incarnation, or maybe they let them out part-time from the prisons.
I don't really like to drive and always told myself that I'd give up the car if I lived in a place with good public transport. Unfortunately, KL is far from being such a place. And then we have dimwits saying people should change their lifestyles to cope with higher petrol prices. GRRRRR...
Yierrrr, I never noticed this plastic counter. So canggih one! If rainy season, how ah? Bisness close ah? or start to put those plastic PVC cover around like pasar malam stalls. got bas kilang music there to entertain these workers ah?
Can I suggest another high-tech addition to the Rapid KL control centre: an abacus - otherwise how to count all that money one? Must be steel, to keep with the high-tech Scratch 2000s. Not sure if they make steel abacus though. Never mind lah, just paint a regular one silver.
AT least the bus interior is clean as you have mentioned. Patrick, I just put up a challenge to all the member in the cabinet to come to Kuching and take a ride with me in the local buses. I want them to feel the pressure of having to put up with the poor condition buses in Kuching. One in particular will be CLL Bus No 23. I want them to compare the situation here and that of KL where OKT can still stand and hold on to clean rails in the bus.
Well... if there's no steel abacus, still got good old trusty hands and feets maaa... 1 bus can carry bout 30 plus adults what, means 30 plus hands and feets to borrow from..
even better... put up some change machine ... charge 30 sen for everytime a note is change .... :P sure untung one!
Now, if they had this type of "ka chang" with the Parking Meters ~
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Its really very nice and fantastic post thanks for sharing this with us.
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