KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia had 40.77 million registered vehicles as of Sept 30, but only 26.6 million, or 65.3%, are active, says the Transport Ministry.
Of the active vehicles, almost 16 million are cars and 9.57 million are motorcycles, the ministry said in a parliamentary reply.
The number of registered vehicles stood at 38.7 million at the end of 2024, while 1.62 million new vehicles were registered last year, including about 847,000 cars and 703,000 motorcycles.
"The high number of registrations shows that the public's dependence on private vehicles is still high," the ministry said in a written reply.
It was replying to Jeli MP Zahari Kechik, who asked about the long-term impact of this dependence and plans to ease congestion in Kuala Lumpur, the Klang Valley, Johor Baru, Penang and other major cities.
The ministry said more private vehicles meant worse congestion, higher accident risk and longer travel times, hurting productivity and wellbeing while raising travel costs and air pollution.
It said its response rests on three strategies: stronger public transport, targeted traffic management and moving more cargo by rail.
In the Klang Valley, the LRT Shah Alam Line (LRT3), which opened on June 29 and links Bandar Utama to Johan Setia via Shah Alam and Klang, is projected to record 67,000 passenger trips a day in its first year.
In Johor, the ETS service to JB Sentral, running since Dec 12 last year, will be linked to the RTS Link between Bukit Chagar and Woodlands North, which is targeted to start operating in the first quarter of 2027.
In Penang, the Mutiara LRT Line is under construction and scheduled to begin operating in December 2031, linking Bayan Lepas, Penang International Airport, George Town and Penang Sentral in Seberang Perai.
The ministry said the line would benefit more than 1.8 million island residents and communities in Seberang Perai, southern Kedah and northern Perak, as well as an estimated 3.5 million visitors a year.
On traffic management, it said artificial intelligence was being used to adjust traffic light timing according to real time traffic density.
Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras linked to the Road Transport Department's MySikap system can also detect moving vehicles with expired road tax or insurance, reducing the need for physical roadblocks.
Under the Road to Rail agenda in the 13th Malaysia Plan, the government aims to raise rail's share of cargo movement from 6% in 2025 to 13% by 2030, supported by the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).
The ministry said these efforts were coordinated by the Cabinet Committee on Road Safety and Congestion, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister.
