KUALA LUMPUR: Land public transport needs to be less reliant on the government for funding. Instead, city stakeholders should come together to support the infrastructure, said MRT Corp chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Zarif Mohd Hashim.
"Funding for public transport infrastructure cannot be solely the government's responsibility. There needs to be a symbiotic relationship with city stakeholders, especially those who have benefited from value capture from public transportation infrastructure," he said.
Zarif believes city stakeholders such as town planners, local authorities and property developers needed to adopt a more forward-thinking approach to support Greater Kuala Lumpur's transportation infrastructure.
This starts from greater collaboration at the planning stages in local structure plans, the implementation of transportation master plans and management of connectivity assets such as walkways and bus stops.
"There is a strategy to transform public transportation and it relies on the liberalisation of information and engagement with stakeholders to build a digital ecosystem around transportation. This could in the form of apps and artificial intelligence engines to make transportation more efficient, cheaper and better," he said at the virtual City Expo Malaysia (CEM) Star Talk session last Friday.
Zarif added that by taking a people-first approach, focus should also be given to public convenience as first and last mile connectivity is important and should integrate or feed into metro rail lines.
This includes looking at improvements to walkability, bus networks, access to car-sharing, ride-hailing and even private mobility vehicles (PMVs).
Rail transit should act as a "backhaul" for public transportation, providing integrated links for multimodal transport options especially in first and last mile connectivity, and this needs to be a critical focus area especially amongst town planners, local authorities and other city stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Zarif said the MRT Line 3 would complete the transport masterplan for the Klang Valley, connecting the eight different radial lines, delivering passengers in a more efficient manner.
It is a proposed circle rail transit line which includes a subway line in the Klang Valley area.
Once it is completed, this 52.31 kilometer rail line with 33 stations will connect to the other rail networks, providing an almost seamless opportunity for intra and intercity travel.
"MRT stations are primed for future expansion and transportation players are invited to engage with MRT Corp and invest in the station infrastructure to support multimodal mobility options. The stations themselves are adapting to have multiple uses and act as a destination," Zarif added.
MRT Corp has received several private funding initiative proposals for the project, following a briefing session in April.