JOHOR BARU: The E-ART (Elevated Autonomous Rapid Transit) should be implemented as soon as possible due to rapid development taking place here, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The MCA president said that electric train services (ETS) between Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru already started operations while the Rapid Transit System (RTS), with a capacity of 10,000 passengers per hour was expected to begin early 2027.
"All this is going to increase the movement of people, investment and economic activities drastically.
"However, there is no feeder system or proper traffic dispersal system which risks the city centre from becoming a huge bottleneck when passengers from RTS, ETS, buses, e-hailing and private cars converge in the same area," he said in a Facebook post on Friday (May 15).
He said Johor Baru was entering an important development phase especially with the RTS link to Singapore, the ETS linking JB Sentral and Kuala Lumpur and the Johor-Singapore Economic Zone (JS-SEZ).
"With RTS ferrying 10,000 people an hour one way and half the passengers use bus services and another half in private cars, this small area in the city will have to cater to 142 buses and 1,000 cars each hour.
"Imagine the number of cars and buses in Bukit Chagar each hour if there is no proper feeder system," he said, adding that the RTS Link has an estimated daily capacity of 280,000 people.
Dr Wee said the state government had proposed an E-Art project in April 2024 but the letter of intent (LOI) was only issued on May 5, 2026, two years later.
"This is already too late for a project vital for Johor and the national economy," he said, adding that the federal government, through the Transport and Finance Ministries, should give utmost priority to the E-Art in Johor Baru.
He added that the federal government should explain the scope of the project as the original proposal was to use an elevated system using rubber wheels, which is more flexible, faster to implement and a much lower start-up cost.
"However, the consortium that received the LOI offered an automated rail-based people mover which is usually more expensive and will take a longer time to complete," he said.
He added that if the federal government was able to fast-track a project in Penang, they could do the same for Johor Baru.
"We should not wait and only act when Johor Baru becomes paralysed," he said.
