I REFER to Pressing need to boost public transport, in The Star, Jan 10.

Being a university student overseas, I have seen great differences between our country’s public transport system and Australia’s, particularly in Queensland.

I was amazed by their punctuality and how they managed to be on time despite traffic jams. Why is this so?

In Queensland buses have the advantage of using the bus lanes, which are totally exclusive for their use only.

If any other vehicles besides buses use them, they would be fined heavily.

People here might say, “Sure, we have bus lanes too” but do we really use them as such? When I came back last December to spend my holidays in KL, I was pleased to see that our country had already reorganised the bus routes properly, clearly stating where the buses were to stop.

I was very glad to see this happening. However, when I tried to take a bus home during the non-peak hours, the bus was still late despite the route stating that the bus would arrive every 15minutes.

I waited for almost half an hour and it did not arrive.

How long does it take for the bus from the 1Utama bus hub to arrive at Taman Tun Dr Ismail?

I really look forward to an efficient public transport system in our country (the LRT is the present exception).

But we are running out of time since Vision 2020 is only 12 years away.

So I plea with the Transport Ministry, please plan future roads with effective bus lanes that we can be proud of.

RACHEL MOOI KOON RHO,

Petaling Jaya.

Source: The Star – January 13, 2008