Rapid KL
Rapid KL is a public transportation system built by Prasarana Malaysia and operated by its subsidiaries, covering the Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley areas.
Rapid KL is one of the components of the Klang Valley Integrated Transit System. The acronym stands for Rangkaian Pengangkutan Intergrasi Deras Kuala Lumpur ''.
History
Public transport restructuring
The need for Kuala Lumpur's public transport system to be revamped became apparent once the city's light rapid transit lines began commercial operations and it was determined that ridership had been much lower than anticipated. This caused correspondingly lower than expected revenue levels, and the two former LRT concessionaires, Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan Sdn Bhd and Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd, could not repay their commercial loans. The 1997 Asian financial crisis aggravated the situation, and by November 2001, the two companies owed a combined total of RM5.7 billion. The Government of Malaysia's Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee stepped in to restructure the debts of the two LRT companies. In 2002, both companies and their respective LRT services were bought over by Prasarana Malaysia, and operations of the lines eventually were transferred to Rapid KL. The company went on to takeover and operate the KL Monorail as well as operating the newly constructed mass rapid transit line, with 2 more lines under construction.The bus service in Kuala Lumpur was also facing problems with lower ridership due to an increase in private car usage and a lack of capital investments. The two new bus consortia formed in the mid 1990s to consolidate all bus services in Kuala Lumpur, 'Intrakota Komposit and Cityliner, began facing financial problems. Intrakota had reportedly accumulated losses amounting to RM450 million from the 1997 financial crisis until Prasarana Malaysia took over in 2003.
With decreased revenues, the bus operators could not maintain their fleets, much less invest in more buses. Frequencies and service deteriorated as buses began breaking down, and ridership suffered as a result. Public transport usage in the Klang Valley area dropped to about 16% of all total trips.
Improvement steps
Since taking over the LRT, monorail and bus network, Prasarana has taken steps to improve services.- Price reduction: Most users of the LRT and monorail are students and elderly people. Students tend to choose the cheaper options and with a fare price increase in 2015 that doubled the original price, no wonder students chose other means of transportation than the Rapid KL.
- Increased rail capacity: Prasarana issued tenders for the purchase of new LRT and monorail rolling stock to increase carrying capacity, including 35 new train sets for the Kelana Jaya Line in October 2006 and October 2007. The trains were expected to be operational by September 2009. On 27 July 2009, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the 35 new four-car trains would be operational by end-2012.
- Expanded bus fleet: As most of the Rapid KL buses inherited were old and poorly maintained, the immediate concern was to get more buses on the road. In 2005, the government promised 200 new Rapid KL buses.
- Increased bus routes: Prasarana introduced several new routes to cover previously unserved areas.
- Scheduled bus services: Rapid Bus introduced scheduled services for 16 Rapid KL bus routes which were not heavily utilised. For the first time in Malaysia, expected bus arrival times and timetables were posted at bus stops along routes. However, the bus stop timetables as well as the myrapid website has since been removed due to the inability of services to reliably adhere to these schedules. This was primarily caused by problems such as traffic congestion and an insufficient number of serviceable buses.
- Common monthly passes for both the rail and bus networks: For the first time commuters were offered monthly passes which could be used on both rail and bus networks, helping to enhance the integration of the public transport system.
- Common signage for all Prasarana owned rail lines: The renaming of the PUTRA LRT and STAR LRT, lines along with the changing of the signage in the LRT and monorail stations helped to enhance the integration of the previously unconnected systems.
- Common Ticketing Systems: All rail lines under Rapid KL which previously functioned as separate systems were integrated with a new and single common ticketing system since 2011, allowing seamless transfer between the various rail lines. The stored-value Touch 'n Go could be used on all Rapid KL buses and rail lines as well.
- Revamp of the bus network: Prasarana scrapped the old Intrakota and Cityliner routes it inherited and introduced three types of bus services: City shuttles, trunk buses, local shuttles and express buses. City shuttles operate within Kuala Lumpur's central business district while trunk buses link hubs at the edge of the CBD with suburban transportation hubs. At these suburban hubs, local shuttles radiate out from rail-based public transport stations and fan out to residential areas. Express buses provide non-stop point-to-point travel to specific destinations.
Rail network map
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Services under Rapid KL
Rail
The entire Rapid KL rail network, operated by Rapid Rail is 156.7 km long and has 116 stations. The network's trains can travel up to 80 km/h. In 2008, the rail network carried a total of over 350,000 passengers daily. The BRT Sunway Line, despite being operated by Rapid Bus, is a component of and integrated with the Rapid KL rail network.Current services
Future service
Bus
The entire Rapid KL bus network is operated by Rapid Bus, one of the largest bus operators in the Klang Valley area, along with Transnasional. Currently, there are 98 stage bus routes and 39 feeder bus services which operate from the rail stations. The bus routes operated by Rapid Bus were previously operated by Intrakota Komposit Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of DRB-Hicom; and Cityliner Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Park May Bhd. In 2008, Rapid Bus carried around 390,000 passengers daily.On 18th June 2020, Rapid Bus released new features on real time locations of bus in Google Maps, via collaboration with Google Transit. Almost 170 RapidKL's bus routes are covered with this real time feature. Rapid Bus also plans to expand the application to MRT feeder bus service, Rapid Penang, and Rapid Kuantan in the future.