Newly appointed transport minister Anthony Loke revealed today that his ministry will be focusing on three key agendas: road safety, providing improvements to public transport, and overseeing the digitalisation of services. He also noted that he would be meeting with public transport operator Prasarana Malaysia Berhad soon.
Prior to this, the minister had made an unannounced trip on 6 December 2022 to survey the conditions on the Kelana Jaya LRT line. “I spent 2 hours reviewing the actual situation of the LRT KJ line service during peak hour between 5 to 7 pm,” he said in a post on his official Facebook page yesterday. “I did not inform the Infrastructure management and the media because I wanted to experience the real situation myself like ordinary passengers to feel what they have to go through every day.”
Loke said that trains were very crowded during peak hours, thus making it uncomfortable for passengers. “I understand the difficulties faced by LRT passengers,” he added. “I will hold a meeting with Prasarana’s top management this week as well to discuss directions and ways to improve our public transport services.”
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Speaking with reporters earlier today, the minister said he’d clarify with the public transport operator to see the technical constraints if the train frequency could be increased, especially during peak hours. In addition, he would also look into having additional trains to further reduce traffic congestion.
As for the digitalisation of services, Loke said efforts had already started since his previous tenure as transport minister, which includes the digitalisation of the number plate registration system. “There are many sectors that we need to digitalise,” he added. “My vision is to see that all the services we provide to the people can be offered digitally without any physical contact in line with the new norms of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Meanwhile, Loke also noted that ongoing projects that are already in progress would continue under the new administration. “For projects that are already started, we have no issues to continue with them in general,” he said. “We have not gone into the details yet, but one major project that will continue is the ECRL (East Coast Rail Link).”
(Source: Bernama / The Edge [1] [2] / Anthony Loke [Facebook])
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