Rapid rail, bus services achieved 1.05 mil daily passengers in 2023, says Loke

• This surpassed the pre-Covid peak of 790,000 passengers a day, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): The utilisation of Rapid bus and rail services reached an average of 1.05 million passengers a day as of December 2023, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

Speaking at a media briefing on Prasarana Malaysia Bhd's 2023 performance and future plans, Loke said that Rapid Rail services, comprising the Light Rail Transit (LRT), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Monorail, achieved a daily ridership exceeding 800,000 passengers.

This surpassed the pre-Covid peak of 790,000 passengers a day, according to the minister.

However, Loke acknowledged that Rapid Bus services had not yet fully recovered to pre-Covid levels, with an average daily ridership of 250,000 passengers.

Touching on the number of service interruptions for the four rail lines operated by Prasarana in 2023, including the Kelana Jaya LRT line, Ampang LRT line, Kajang MRT line, and KL Monorail, Loke said there was a significant 60% drop in failures as compared to 2022.

The Kelana Jaya LRT line, the most heavily trafficked among the four, experienced a 27% decrease in disruptions, dropping to 26 failures from 29 in 2022. The Ampang LRT line witnessed a 76% reduction to 19 failures from 79 in 2022, the Kajang MRT line improved by 17% to 38 from 46 in 2022, and the KL Monorail experienced a 91% drop to seven failures from 78 in 2022.

Loke added that all four rail lines are anticipated to see an overall reduction of 35% in service disruptions this year.

Responding to inquiries about the significant decrease in failures on the Ampang LRT line as compared to the Kelana Jaya LRT line, Prasarana chief executive officer Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah explained that the Ampang line had newer trains, allowing for easier fixing and maintenance from a spare parts perspective.

“The Kelana Jaya line utilises 818 train models that have been in operation for 15 years, which means more complexity [for maintenance]," Azharuddin said.

Azharuddin added that the Kelana Jaya line is currently undergoing mid-life refurbishment, and it might take two or three years for the Kelana Jaya line trains to reach the standard of the Ampang LRT line.

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