PM to launch Rapid Penang

PENANG: Rapid Penang buses will hit the roads from 11.30am today after the launching of the new state public bus transportation system by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. 

RapidKL chief operating officer Mohd Ali Mohd Nor said Rapid Penang’s operating fleet of 135 buses would start plying all its 33 routes on the island and mainland immediately after the launching. 

“We have 150 buses but only 135 will be on the roads at any given time,” he said yesterday. 

Mohd Ali said that from today until Thursday, 50 workers would be deployed at 13 hubs from 10am to 7pm to provide information on the new bus system. 

The 13 hubs are at Weld Quay, Komtar, Teluk Bahang, Tanjung Bungah, Balik Pulau, Paya Terubong, Sungai Nibong, Bayan Baru, Mega-mal Pinang, Butterworth ferry terminal, Kepala Batas, Bukit Mertajam, and Nibong Tebal. 

“Our staff will be stationed there to explain how to use the system. My advice is to find the time to hop on a bus to the nearest information hub,” said Mohd Ali. 

He said that the buses would begin its normal operating hours from 6am tomorrow, adding that some of the routes would be serviced until 10pm while others would be until 11pm daily. 

He also said the company hoped to overcome all its deficiencies and insufficiencies as soon as possible, and asked the public not to “hit the panic button”. 

Mohd Ali said the company’s new hub at the Raja Tun Uda Ferry Terminal in Weld Quay was nearing completion but this would not hinder the bus services. 

“Some facilities are taking a longer time to be completed and work is still being done, but they are not major issues. We did not have a choice except to begin operations as fast as possible because the state needed this new service,” he said. 

He said Rapid Penang’s workshop and head office in Lorong Kulit was still being refurbished and that they expected to move in by next week or so. 

Mohd Ali said the company’s contractor had not yet finished putting up Rapid Penang sign plates at bus stops to indicate that those stops were pick-up or drop-off points. 

“We have about 1,000 bus stops. The contractor started work last week and was supposed to finish before the launch but work is still being done,” he said, adding that the route numbers would be pasted onto the sign plates at these stops over the next few weeks.