On-Demand van service to address the first- and last mile connectivity is an idea whose time has come, say transport experts. But the idea has some "devils" in its details.
Malaysia's public transport is bedevilled by underutilisation. When the National Transport Policy 2019-2030 (NTP) was rolled out, only 20 per cent of Malaysians used public transport.
In a survey conducted in January by data firm Statista, about 53 per cent of Malaysians used private vehicles.
If the data is accurate, then the NTP has more than met its target of 40 per cent by seven years. But the 40 per cent target may have been a low one for a country with incessant traffic jams.
There are just far too many private vehicles on the road. The government must find a way to get the drivers into public vehicles.
Transport expert Dr Rosli Khan has a measure that the government may want to consider. A developed nation, he says, is measured not by how many poor people own cars, but by how many rich people take public transport.
To show its seriousness towards that direction, the government is spending RM50 million. That may not be enough given the number of areas in the country that face the first- and last-mile connectivity issue.
To Rosli, the first- and last-mile connectivity has been an issue for the longest time. For sure, on-demand vans can solve the connectivity problem, he says, but they must come designed with a few success factors.
Firstly, the fare must be affordable, or in Rosli's language, cheap. Otherwise, the 53 per cent of Malaysians who now drive to work or study will continue to do so, forcing the average Malaysian to spend hours on the road.
In the Klang Valley the wasted time totalled 44 hours a month, this newspaper reported on June 29 last year, quoting Universiti Teknologi Mara data.
A tutor could have graded 10 undergraduate essays in 44 hours or if one is an undergraduate reading for an English degree spending that many hours behind the wheels means two essays foregone.
On-demand vans must be reliable, Rosli's second success factor, and not the crying shame some of our buses are. This is one reason why people choose not to take the bus.
The commuter just doesn't know when the bus will come nor when he can get to work. Neither the bus companies nor the authorities see to it that they stick to a schedule.
Can we blame the people who choose to waste hours behind the wheels rather than wait for the bus that never arrives on time? This, the on-demand vans must solve by high frequency arrivals and departures.
Thirdly, it must provide almost door-to-door service with minimal walking distance for commuters. Finally, it must be safe. No road-rage drivers, please.
All said and done, the on-demand van service is a welcome idea, but the government must do more. Yes, the Transport Ministry must work harder to get people to move from their cars into buses, trains and what have you.
Other ministries and agencies must work equally hard. Our city planners seem to be designing traffic congestion in rather than keeping it out of the cities.
How about a smart city that makes even on-demand vans unnecessary?