Monorail gets thumbs-up

BY CHOW HOW BAN

KUALA LUMPUR: Commuters gave KL Monorail the thumbs up after taking a ride on the train. 

After the official launch by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday, the gates at all 11 monorail stations were opened to commuters. 

Badrul Hisham Mustafa, 25, who is partially blind, was impressed by the service. 

“It was very good,” he said.  

He pointed out that KL Monorail staff were also helpful with the blind and disabled. 

OVERWHELMING RESPONSE: The crowd waiting Monday to get onto the monorail at the Bukit Bintang station.

Steven Khoo, who brought his family to the city, said they enjoyed the monorail ride very much. 

“It was smooth and good. It was just that they should have better crowd control, knowing that this was the first run,” said Khoo, who took the train from Bukit Nanas to KL Sentral. 

“I think the monorail will help ease traffic in the city. There is no reason for us to drive to the city,” he said. 

Sin Sew Lan hopped onto the train with her four-year-old son Tan Guan Xiong and her friend after shopping at Jalan Bukit Bintang. 

She said the ride was fine although it was bumpy at times. 

“Shoppers will find the monorail convenient to go to shopping complexes in the city centre,” she added. 

The monorail system has 11 stations – Titiwangsa, Chow Kit, Medan Tuanku, Bukit Nanas, Raja Chulan, Bukit Bintang, Imbi, Hang Tuah, Maharajalela, Tun Sambanthan and Kl Sentral. 

The areas covered are Jalan Tun Razak, Jalan Pahang, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Hang Tuah, Jalan Maharajalela and Jalan Tun Sambathan. 

At the Titiwangsa station, some early commuters were unable to get onto the trains, while at KL Sentral many were prevented from entering the station until the crowd at the counter area and platform was cleared. 

The Bukit Bintang station seemed to be the busiest as it is located in the Golden Triangle.  

A spokesman for MTrans Holdings Sdn Bhd, the operator of the RM1.18bil KL Monorail, said more commuters were expected to use the service. 

“I think they (commuters) will find it useful and it is the only system that goes into the Golden Triangle,” he added. 

For the whole of this month, commuters will only have to pay a flat rate of RM1 for a one-way ticket to any monorail station. The train service starts at 10am and ends at 3pm during the month.  

By the end of the year, the system will operate from 6am to midnight. 

The monorail can travel up to 90kph with up to 214 passengers. The travel time from the Titiwangsa station to KL Sentral is 19 minutes.