Putrajaya Corporation (PjC), the city’s local authority, has announced that the Nadiputra bus service will no longer be free starting 1 January 2023. Instead, commuters will be charged a fare of RM1 as the service is set to be under new management next year.
Come 2023, Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd will be taking over operations of Nadiputra from Pengangkutan Awam Putrajaya Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd. With the change in administration, PjC stated that the service will run seven routes in total — six chargeable and one free bus route.
The RM1 charge will apply to all commuters soon as opposed to the existing arrangement which is free for Malaysians while foreigners are being charged RM1.50. As for the payment method, the bus will only accept Touch n’ Go card with a minimum balance of RM3, although senior citizens, the disabled, and students can still apply for a MyRapid concession card that provides a 50% discount on fares.
Putrajaya seems to be taking the opposite approach to the state of Penang, where the latter has announced an increase in free unlimited bus passes for 2023. Presently, the Nadiputra bus service runs six routes that only operate on weekdays, not including public holidays, with a frequency of between every hour to every one and a half hours.
With the upcoming new routes, the frequency will be increased to every 30 minutes during peak hours and 40 minutes during non-peak hours on weekdays as well as 45 minutes on weekends for the six paid routes. As for the free route, P101, there is a bus running every 15 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes during non-peak hours on weekdays while weekends will see a 45-minute frequency.
The updated service under Rapid Bus will run seven days a week with operational hours between 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM on weekdays while it will operate between 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM on weekends and public holidays. The company has defined peak hours as the period between 6:30 AM and 9:00 AM as well as from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM.
(Source: PjC/Facebook)
