PETALING JAYA: A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line linking Kuala Lumpur to Klang is expected to be ready by 2018, transport officials said.
Planned to be built in the middle of the Federal Highway, construction may start in the third quarter of next year, with the roadway widened to keep traffic flow smooth.
“We will widen the highway before taking a lane for the BRT line,” said Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) BRT division manager Norlela Osman yesterday.
Earlier, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi announced the BRT KL-Klang line’s status.
Abdul Aziz said all these works – the widening and BRT construction – would be carried out at the same time.
The line will be about 34km long, with about 25 stations along it.
A World Bank report in June said the Klang-Shah Alam-PJ corridor has nearly a million private vehicles travelling on it daily during morning peak hours.
It is second only to the Middle Ring Road 1, which sees nearly 1.3 million private vehicles on it during the same period.
Norlela did not say when tenders for construction of the line would be opened.
About 80% of the KL-Klang BRT line will be connected to the LRT (Light Rail Transit) and KTM Komuter rail lines, with all stops linked to other bus services, Norlela said.
Asked if Prasarana – which runs both the RapidKL and BRT Sunway lines – will operate the upcoming KL-Klang line, Abdul Aziz said a consortium may be appointed.
He said Prasarana will “definitely be involved” but believed that the current operators would be included in a consortium with that company.
Norlela said the road corridor linking KL to Klang would cover a total of 500km and that there were four operators there.
“They (Prasarana) can be the main operator … we don’t want the existing operators to be left out,” she said.
Previous reports said the project may cost RM1bil, with a possible daily ridership of 600,000 commuters.
It will benefit some 1.5 million people in the Klang Valley.
According to SPAD, a bus ride from KL to Klang now takes about 70 minutes. With the BRT, the journey will only take about 40 minutes.
It has been reported that some 212,800 people take buses from KL to Klang everyday.
The new KL-Klang BRT would see a ridership of 800,000 on both its trunk and direct services.
It is understood that “direct” means the actual BRT line while “trunk” refers to bus lines connected to the direct line.
It is not yet known how much the fares will cost.
– The Star
