Travelling in Penang Public Bus

I was back in Penang for the holiday and travelled in a public bus for the first time since the revamp of the public transportation on the island.

It was really a scary and not too pleasant journey. The bus service in Singapore and Penang totally different and almost to an incomparable extent. There were so many aspects that could be improved, even without spending millions.

The most basic of all is the attitude and management of the buses and drivers. The condition of the bus was terrible and in fact worse than those buses I travelled 10-15 years ago. The attitude of the driver and bus conductor create an intimidating feeling on the passengers as if every passenger is immobilised without them. It was also evidenced that buses can stop anywhere along the road as long as someone raised his/her hand to flag the bus. Clearly, the management and administration could be improve and the company should always have the customers in mind as the most important priority.

City council and bus operators should focus more creating a more pleasant environment to encourage greater use of public transportation. Bus stops are filled with advertisement posters but one could not find any information about the bus services. I could not even find out the information of which bus actually will stop by. This reflected the hopelessness of the bus system because the bus stop is the first thing passengers will come across before even boarding the bus.

From these simple problems, the image of public transportation has scarred the image of Penang. As Malaysia is currently organising the Visit Malaysia Year 2007, perhaps greater effort and political will is needed to immediately improve the image of public transportation before it becomes a permanent feature of Penang.

In my opinion, Penangites are not asking for brand new and ultra modern buses. All the city needed is an efficient and friendly public transportation which include aspects such as consistent frequency of buses; pleasant attitude of drivers and bus conductor; clean and properly maintained buses; and proper bus stops with ample information on route were simple things that could greatly enhance the image of public transportation without going through a spending spree using the public fund.