Connectivity counts

“THE MRT should be allowed to shine” (Letters, Jan 12) refers. I agree a car would have intrinsic costs but low-income groups do not own cars. Perhaps we should consider a comparison to a simple motorcycle instead – which is cheaper than the car and the MRT.

I did write on the MRT being used to cater for middle- to higher-income groups in terms of direct access. Perhaps this was lost in translation.

I’ll give an example. Mutiara Damansara station is within walking distance of Malaysians who are better off than those in Kampung Sg Penchala or even Flora Damansara.

This means that while richer Malaysians can walk and cut out such a cost to get to the stations, the lower-income groups do not have a choice and need to use feeder buses at RM1 a trip.

Next, I did not wish to bring up government debt on this project because I support the MRT. However, I do have issues with connectivity. A morning trip on the MRT with a bus ride to KL Sentral would take 40 minutes – time that could be reduced had they waited and opened the line up to Muzium Negara station, which would link to the transport hub and allow a proper gauge for those working in KL to test interconnectivity.

It is definitely too early to gauge the MRT project and public transport interconnectivity, not just until the three MRT lines are ready, but also the LRT Line 3.

As for pressuring MRT staff to be efficient and professional, I would think that would have been a harsher attack since their service is commendable and at peak efficiency.

Hafidz Baharom