Selangor Plans To Expand DRT Van Service Statewide

The recently launched Demand-Responsive Transit (DRT) service will be extended by the Selangor government to additional regions of the state within a month or two. This comes after the administration revealed that Trek Rides would be testing the service for three months in Bandar Puteri Puchong. The next location for the pilot could be in Ampang or Gombak, according to Ng Sze Han, chairman of the state local government, public transportation, and new village development committee. "We hope to improve the DRT system by implementing more trial runs in various locations," he said.
Vans are used during the trial run in Bandar Puteri Puchong, which includes 17 residential stops and 20 commercial stops. But according to Trek Rides' FAQ, its service may also include a shuttle, MPV, or even a minibus. On the company website, you can register if you're interested in trying it out.

If you're not familiar with the idea, DRT is a service that enables users to hail a ride through an app at any time, just like any e-hailing service, in an effort to address first- and last-mile connectivity issues. However, it should be significantly less expensive as it is comparable to vanpooling, where a single ride will pick up multiple passengers with various destinations. You can actually change your destination while on a ride, claims Trek Rides, so you won't need to make a reservation in advance. The company guarantees that its algorithm will correctly estimate the time of arrival on the app and match passengers to the appropriate vehicles to ensure the shortest possible travel time.
According to Ng, there are plans to eventually make Selangor's DRT service available throughout the entire state. She also mentioned that they are currently gathering proposals from various vendors. The state exco did not specify the exact fare after the trial is over, but they did say that it should be inexpensive because it is a shared service. He stated in December that DRT vans won’t be free, they will be heavily subsidised and have reasonable prices.