To boost public transport

> Mobile phone facilities key to connecting commuters, says Australian academic

KUALA LUMPUR: Mobile applications hold the key to improving public transport in and around cities, according to an Australian academic.

University of Melbourne’s Professor of Urban Transport and Public Health, Mark Stevenson ( pix), said Kuala Lumpur, like most modern cities, faced a challenge in providing public transport to connect commuters.

And the solution to the capital’s effort to bridge this could be in the numerous online applications being developed or already in use in cities around the world, he said.

Stevenson cited an example of an application widely used in Germany to help with the bus transport needs of the public.

“For example, in Germany, an application called Door2Door uses unique and clean electrically-run mini buses for on-demand outer areas for public transport,” he said.

“You have the apps, you can call it up and there are mini buses picking up 10 to 12 people. It is networked into the main grid and older public transport delivery system,” he told theSun after a panel discussion titled “Healthy Future Cities” at Hilton Hotel on Saturday.

The talk, which centred on challenges to sustainable cities, was organised by the University of Melbourne Alumni Association Malaysia.

Stevenson said integrating the usage of mobile applications would benefit the people greatly in accessing public transport in the city, as well as serving as a measure to sustain older operating transport system.

“Kuala Lumpur will serve itself well if it looks at other ways to deliver public transport, rather than just massive rapid transits like the city’s new MRT.

“I think it will be wise to invest in other solutions to public transport. Keep investing in public transport and alternate forms of public transport as well,” he said.