Rapid KL has announced that it will soon be ending its Proof of Concept (PoC) for its on-demand feeder bus service next week. The service, which is operated by local company Kumpool and serves bus route T250 from the Wangsa Maju LRT station to Setapak, will cease operations on 5 February, four months after its launch.
The feeder bus, which actually uses a van, allows commuters to hitch a ride on-demand in the Wangsa Maju area through the Kumpool app at a cost of only RM1. It is available every day from 6.30AM to 11.30PM and runs separately from the regular Rapid KL bus that services the route.
According to Rapid KL, the Kumpool feeder bus received 26813 passengers in its four months of operation, with a daily average of 291 commuters. Because the ride-sharing concept was such a success, the company stated that it plans on launching similar PoCs in more locations, especially in areas with a low percentage of bus users.
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The next PoC will apparently be introduced in Alam Megah, Shah Alam soon, though it did not detail when exactly the launch will happen. Rapid KL said that these concepts are done to collect more data before it officially introduces ride-sharing as one of its services.
The on-demand feeder bus for route T250 will still be running normally until 5 February, but even after the concept with Rapid KL ends, Kumpool has announced that it will be adding Wangsa Maju and Setapak as one of its serviced areas. The only change is that from 6 February, the fare will be increased to RM2.
Kumpool is potentially set to expand its footprint in Selangor this year as the state government announced last December that it would be launching a service for demand-responsive transit (DRT) vans for last-mile public transport connectivity. While it isn’t clear whether Kumpool will be the only company involved in the finalised version, it has been the state’s test run provider since last year.
(Sources: Rapid KL, Kumpool/Facebook)
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