Festive shoppers causing traffic congestion at all hours

TRAFFIC congestion in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya is common during peak hours. However, over the last few days, the traffic situation is worse. The roads are jam packed as many in the Klang Valley are out shopping.

Some road users have been updating Twitter and Facebook on the longer time taken to reach their destinations.

The congestion is due to the fact that more people are out shopping during the year-end festive season and because of the school holidays.

Sunway Pyramid marketing communication manager Darren Chear said human traffic at the mall had increased by 10% to 15% compared to the same time last year.

He said shoppers start coming into the mall from the time it opens at 10am and by noon, most of the parking bays were taken up.

“After 2pm, the parking area is quite full. This is not only during weekends but also during weekdays.

“The upper level carparks can become congested since there is only one entry and exit while the basement carparks are better since there are multiple entries and exits,” he said.

To cater to the increasing number of shoppers, the mall is managing traffic smartly.

Apart from having carpark attendants to direct traffic flow in the carpark, hotel carparks which are connected to the mall are also opened for parking on weekends to cater to the traffic volume.

Meanwhile, traffic means good business for Sungei Wang Plaza promotions and public relations senior manager K.K. Lim.

Lim said there was always a 30% to 40% increase in shoppers at the mall, located on Jalan Bukit Bintang, during the yearend compared to other shopping and festive seasons.

“So it is a good month,” he said.

Lim added that traffic in the area was quite heavy and became worse when it rained.

“Bukit Bintang is an area not only for locals but also tourists. It is a popular area,” he said.

The mall’s carpark is also always full but it has a system that indicates parking bay availability. The system helps motorists from getting stuck in a congested carpark.

“If there aren’t enough bays, shoppers can park at other premises and walk over. There are also many who take the monorail to get here,” he said.

1 Utama Shopping Centre senior public relations executive Joey Choong said the mall had no problems with parking as it had about 10,000 parking bays, including those at the One World Hotel and the open car park.

She added that the peak shopping and holiday season saw many shoppers visiting the mall, contributing to the high number of shoppers.

However, she said the traffic outside the mall was normal.

“The traffic also depended on busy hours, which is normally between noon and 2pm, and after 5pm,” said Choong.