LOKE : FREE Shuttle Buses From KL Sentral To Parliament To Solve Parking Woes

Minister of Transport, YB Anthony Loke announced recently that come Feb 13 Parliament sitting, a pilot run of free shuttle bus service would begin between the KL Sentral and the Parliament to ferry members of parliament, their staff and members of the media.

Loke hopes that this shuttle bus service would encourage parliament attendees to use public transport instead of driving to ease the congestion issue at the parliament grounds during every sitting.

For now, the free shuttle bus frequency and number of buses has not been finalised as the demand has to be ascertained based on the pilot run, but service would begin two hours before the Parliament session. The trip back to KL Sentral would be extended if needed should the Parliament sittings go late into the night.  and the number of buses for the service would be increased if there was demand.

Loke further said, "I have asked Prasarana to provide a small RapidKL bus to make it easier to go through Parliament's gates and enter the compound."

This shuttle bus proposal was also accepted by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul as there is always the issue of parking space availability. "When Parliament is in session, 2,000 to 4,000 people enter the building. Just imagine, there are 222 MPs, and this excludes the staff, members of the media and other officers,” Loke added.

However, some issues would need to be ironed out especially with regards to the issuance of Parliament entry passes. For now it's most likely those without a pass would have to alight at the security post to obtain a Parliament pass before entering the compound.

Loke himself would be using the shuttle bus service when attending the Parliament session. 

(Source: The Star, Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas)