Selangor govt seeks to improve connectivity

The Smart Selangor bus service is a first-mile and last-mile solution by the state government. — Filepic

FIRST-mile and last-mile services such as Smart Selangor bus and micromobility vehicles in certain municipalities are provided by Selangor government to encourage usage of public transport in the state.

“The Federal Government oversees matters related to rail services such as LRT, MRT and KTM Komuter, as public transport comes under their purview,” said state local government, public transportation and new village development committee chairman Ng Sze Han.

“We are aware of recent problems associated with rail services as we also received complaints from users.

“As a caring state government, what we can do is ensure the first-mile and last-mile solutions complement and connect users to rail stations.”

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Ng said this in response to a supplementary question by Wong Siew Ki (PH-Balakong), who had sought the state government’s opinion on recent problems associated with LRT and MRT services.

As for Mohd Sany Hamzan’s (PH-Taman Templer) question on a request for rail services in Bandar Baru Selayang, Ng said there were existing LRT, MRT, and KTM Komuter services that were connected by buses to selected train stations.

“At the state level, there are no additional requests as public transport projects incur high costs and are the Federal Government’s responsibility,” said Ng at the Selangor State Assembly sitting yesterday in Bangunan SUK, Shah Alam.

When Mohd Sany questioned why the state government did not ask for the LRT or MRT alignment to go through his constituency, Ng clarified that there were existing rail services in Bandar Baru Selayang but Mohd Sany felt that these were insufficient.

“On the state government’s part, we have prepared a Selangor Public Transportation Master Plan, where we identified 12 corridors for rail-based public transportation services,” said Ng, adding that the plan was submitted to the Transport Ministry during discussions on the 12th Malaysia Plan.