An official press conference was held on 23 January 2015 to publicize another initiative by the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD). The collaboration between SPAD, Cityliner Sdn Bhd and MARA Liner Sdn Bhd will result in the roll out of new stage bus services in Seremban and Kangar respectively, which will provide passengers in these locations with more efficient and reliable services.
SPAD was represented by it's Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Syed Hamid Albar and Chief Executive Officer, En Mohd Nur Ismail Mohamed Kamal. Director, Puan Rohaya Mohd Zain and Executive Director, Tengku Mohd Hasmadi Tengku Hashim inked the stage bus contract on behalf of MARA Liner and Cityliner respectively.
The service will commence in April for Seremban and June for Kangar. Plans are also in place to introduce the service to Ipoh, Kuala Terengganu and Kuching by this year. The federal government is expected to invest RM100 million on these five cities which will form the basis for a nationwide roll- out by 2020.
“The SPAD Stage Bus Transformation Programme is designed to help sustain bus services and at the same time, connect rural and urban areas, villages to towns with trips scheduled to help the local commuters get to work, schools and central commercial areas, contributing directly to quality of life and productivity,” said Tan Sri Dr Syed Hamid Albar.
“When we planned the network, we specified the routes, operational hours and frequency to serve the new demand arising from urbanization from these states. We also eliminated duplication of routes to ensure optimum coverage to provide accessibility to 80% of the population,” he added.
Seremban
Seremban’s bus networking coverage in Seremban areas will be increased to 601 km from 345km, with the number of routes increased to 24 from 19.
Kangar
Kangar’s bus network coverage will be increased from 124 km to 337 km with the number of routes increased to 15 from 7 to provide better access to urban and rural communities.
