Rapid Bus

Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd

Rapid KL Alexander Dennis Enviro500 MMC parked at Cheras Selatan depot.
Slogan Menghubungkan Kita Semua
(Connecting Us All)
Parent Prasarana Malaysia
Founded January 2006
Headquarters Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Service type Bus service
Routes 167
Fleet 1,400
Daily ridership about 400,000 per day
Website Rapid Bus
Rapid KL BYD K9 battery-run electric bus for BRT Sunway Line
Rapid KL MAN 18.280 HOCL-NL (A84 chassis)
Rapid Penang Scania K250UB
Rapid KL Iveco EuroClass at Wangsa Maju LRT Station

Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd is the largest bus operator in Malaysia operating mainly in urban areas of Klang Valley, Penang & Kuantan. As of 2011, Rapid KL service brands unit of Rapid Bus, has operates 167 routes with 1,400 buses covering 980 residential areas with a ridership of about 400,000 per day.[1]

Rapid Bus routes were previously operated by Intrakota Komposit Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Berhad; and Cityliner Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Park May Berhad. When it took over, there were 179 routes. Since January 2006, Rapid KL has redrawn the entire network.

Rapid Bus is however not the only bus operator in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley. Other bus operators such as Metrobus, Len Seng Omnibus Co Ltd., Nadi Putra and Selangor Omnibus Co. Ltd also serve the Klang Valley.

History

In October 2003, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad bought over Intrakota Komposit and its subsidiaries from DRB-Hicom for RM177mil. It also paid RM14mil cash for the 364 buses belonging to Cityliner. The original companies were appointed interim operators.

Rapid Bus began the first phase of the revamp of its bus network in January 2006 by introducing 15 City Shuttle bus routes which serve major areas in the central business district of Kuala Lumpur. The buses run between four hubs at the edge of the central business district, namely KL Sentral, Titiwangsa, KLCC and Maluri, and Medan Pasar in the city centre. These bus hubs also serve as rail interchanges, with the exception of Medan Pasar, although it is at a walking distance from Masjid Jamek LRT station.

In March 2006, Rapid Bus revamped the bus network serving Kepong, Selayang, Gombak, Batu Caves, Bandar Sri Damansara and Bandar Manjalara areas which it called Area 2. The areas are now service by four Trunk Routes and 35 Local Shuttle routes when fully implemented. The four trunk routes all begin from the Titiwangsa hub where passengers can change to City Shuttles. At the other end, the trunk routes serve regional hubs where Local Shuttles fan out into the residential suburbs.

On 30 April 2006, the bus network in Area 3 covering Setapak, Ulu Kelang, Wangsa Maju, Keramat, Ampang and Pandan was revamped. Three trunk bus routes serve this area, one from Titiwangsa and two from KLCC while 26 local shuttle routes complete the network for this area.

On 1 July 2006, two express services, four trunk lines and 32 local services were introduced in Area 4. It covers areas including Cheras, Serdang, Kajang, Balakong, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Bandar Baru Bangi.

On 23 September 2006, Rapid Bus' revamp of the Klang Valley's bus network became complete with the introduction of new routes in Area Five which covers Subang Jaya, USJ, Puchong, and Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Klang south of the Federal Highway; and Area Six which covers Damansara, Bandar Utama, Kota Damansara and areas of Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Klang north of the Federal Highway.

On 21 April 2007, sixteen months after the first step of the first revamp, a second major revamp was undertaken on the entire bus network on grounds of feedback from commuters who wanted the buses to ferry them from their housing estates direct to the city centre, that is with less or without much need to change buses in the middle of their journey.[2]

This revamp saw the routes being adjusted (e.g. B112 [Maluri — KL Sentral], formerly 112, now passes by Jalan Hang Tuah/Pudu/Tun Tan Cheng Lock instead of Jalan Maharajalela/Sultan Sulaiman), extended (T40 [Kajang — Maluri], is now U40 and is extended to Pasar Seni LRT), merged (T41 [Serdang Komuter — Maluri] and 414 [Serdang — Bandar Sungai Long] become U41 [Pasar Seni LRT — Bandar Sungai Long]) or discontinued (route 107 ceased operations on that date).

On 1 December 2015 , The Bus Network Revamp (BNR) was carried out by SPAD to improve urban public transport in Greater Kuala Lumpur/ Klang Valley.

Services

Current BRT network

Code Line Stations Length Began operation Termini
 B1 
BRT Sunway Line
7
5.6 km
2 June 2015  SB1   KD08  Setia Jaya  SB7  KJ31  USJ7

Using Rapid Bus in Rapid KL brands

Nomenclature ( Before BNR )

Rapid Bus operates three types of bus services: City Shuttles (Malay: Perkhidmatan bandar), Trunk Buses (Perkhidmatan utama) and Local Shuttles (Perkhidmatan tempatan). There are also point-to-point Express buses (Perkhidmatan ekspres).

City Shuttles have red destination boards, trunk buses have blue boards, local shuttles have green boards and express services have orange boards.

Rapid Bus has also divided up the Klang Valley into six areas:

Route numbers for the local shuttle are prefixed by the letter T (for Tempatan), e.g. T323. Route numbers for the express services are prefixed by the letter E (for Ekspres), e.g. E1.

There was a prefix for trunk shuttles which is U (for Utama) e.g. U410 and for city shuttles which is B (for Bandar), e.g. B114. But demolished due to the revamping of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD)

The Bus Network Revamp (BNR)

The Ampang Corridor, Cheras Corridor, Sungai Besi Corridor, Klang Lama Corridor, Lebuhraya Persekutuan Corridor, Damansara Corridor, Jalan Ipoh Corridor, and Jalan Pahang Corridor were revamped under the Bus Network Revamp reorganization.

SPAD has divided up the Klang Valley into 8 stage bus corridors:

Bus routes

Using the service

Rapid Bus new bus system expects users to hop on more than one bus to complete a journey. This is unlike the previous Rapid Bus bus system and that still in use by other bus operators in the Klang Valley, where most bus services begin in the suburbs, follow a trunk route to the city, then perform a sweep in the city centre before terminating.

Instead, Rapid Bus users are expected to use a combination of its four types of services to complete journeys. Local Shuttles take users in the suburbs to hubs, usually bus terminals or LRT stations, where users transfer to LRTs or trunk buses to continue their journeys to the city or elsewhere in the Klang Valley. The city centre is served exclusively by City Shuttles.

Fares

Effective 1 September 2009, all Rapid Bus buses will be issued a single journey tickets for their city shuttle (BANDAR), local shuttle (TEMPATAN) & express (EKSPRES) bus routes which replaced the daily unlimited ride tickets. As for trunk shuttle (UTAMA) bus route, the tickets will be issued based on the number of zones covered. For example, if a person travels across three zones on the trunk shuttle (UTAMA) bus route, the bus fare is RM 2.50 for single journey. The ticket must be kept while on board for inspection by RapidKL officials failure of which the ticket must be purchased again if the ticket is lost while on board during the inspection.

RapidKL bus schedule, found at bus stops.

Spouse and a total of 4 youngsters under 15 years old are allowed to accompany the pass holder free on weekends and public holidays.

Schedules

Detailed schedules of bus services are not published, although headway information and operating hours is publicly available.

Headway:

There are scheduled services that are not subject to the above headways.

RapidBET - Rapid Bus Express Transit

BET is a system where the buses utilize less congested highways to link between heavily populated areas and city centers in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Naturally, by using the highways, travel time is reduced as the highways are less congested than the normal routes. The service will have limited stops and rely on feeder buses and park-n-ride facilities to ensure sufficient ridership. With BET, travel time is expected to be reduced by up to 50 percent on certain BETs.

To Kuala Lumpur

To Putrajaya

BET services are only available on weekdays and during the morning and evening peak hours only. For this initial introductory stage, BET will run at 15 to 20-minute intervals during the morning and evening peak hours. Frequency and service periods will be increased at a later stage depending on the demand for each route.

Buses for BET routes are about four to six buses initially and will be reviewed from time to time as the demand grows. BET is more of an enhancement to the current services, whereby the focus is more to shorten the travel time

Fleet

As of June 2014, the Rapid KL's Rapid Bus fleet consists of 1,400 vehicles.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Surin Murugiah (27 June 2008). "RM4.9b to boost urban,rail transport systems". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  2. ↑ "Back to those ‘minibus’ days". NST. 18 April 2007.
  3. ↑ "Rapid bus buy tow trucks worth RM3m to reduce maintenance costs". Bernama. Factiva. 5 June 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.