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THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL BLOG BUT A BLOG FOR A BETTER MALAYSIA!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

What the 10% allowance cut has to do with the people's suffering?

I don't really see how the 10% cut on the ministers allowances give an impact to the people. Actually, if the Government is really sincere, they should have cut these allowances first before they tend to increase the petrol price. But, what is happening is that they only react if the people protest. If the people stays quiet, i bet that the PM won't bother to cut the cabinet's allowances.

I stay in Bandar Baru Bangi, and i have to drive to work in KL city center which is 30km per trip. So everyday i travel 60km, atleast!. My petrol expenses per day used to be RM10 but now has increased to Rm14 per day (simple calculation of 40% increase). Multiple by 22 days because I work 5 days a week. So my monthly petrol expenses is RM308.

Plus I have to pay toll fees of RM6.60 per day. (Kajang - Sg Besi Toll: RM1.80 + Putrajaya KL Toll : RM1.50 = RM3.30 x 2 trips = RM6.60)
So, for 22 days i have to pay RM145.20). This is the cheapest route, it is an additional of Rm0.50 per trip if I use the unSMARTtunnel.

Plus I have to pay for parking, I am paying RM8 per day x 22 days = RM176 permoth.

So in total my expenses to get to work is petrol+toll+ parking fee = Rm308+145.20+176 = RM629.20!!! per month.

Surely u will ask, why dont I use the public transport? I start work at 8 am, if I were to catch the Komuter from the nearest station which is UKM Komuter Station, it will cost me RM 3.30 to KL Central and Rm1.70 from KL Central to KLCC, total of RM5 per trip x 2 trips x 22 days = RM220.

It saves me about RM500+ if I use the public transport BUT, the Komuter is very unpredictable. They come and go whenever they like. Because of its inefficiency, (which they claim in their website they have a train every 20 minutes but now it is if they come punctually every 30 mintues also you will feel very lucky!), I can't take the risk to be late to work, and get fired later because of other people's mistake.

It takes the Komuter 40 minutes to arrive to KL Central from UKM Station + (unpredictable minutes of waiting time). Then I have to queue to get the next LRT to KLCC. So the trip might end up as a 2 hour journey just to get to the office. and another 2 hour to get back home in the evening! It's a waste of 4 hours per day just on the journey. But I can get to office in 40 minutes by car using the route i mentioned above.

I would like to suggest that the minister try these public transport in early mornings, see how unefficiently it is. If these public transport can be more efficient, it will however help the people to lower their monthly expenses, and also ease the traffic problem in KL city center.

If this matter can be solved, i will be the 1st to buy the monthly passes for KTM Komuter. KTM claims that they are making loss last year, but they themselves are not efficient. The market for KTM Komuter is really huge. You can see how sardin it is when you go on Komuters during pack hours. Why? Because they come only every 30mintues. Due to this, the trains seems to be very packed, this can be solved if they have it come at every 10 minutes, it will be less packed and in business strategy, it will attract more users because it is efficient and it is convenient. I really think that the government need to put one business minded person to head KTM. Don't give excuses on losses but think how u can turn it into profit. If you head KTM but you just sit in your office, not even had a chance to ride your own KTM trains or Komuters then this is what you get. No profit! and then you blame the new highways for it!

Try to make the train journey something enjoyable, for long trips, and convenient, people will tend to choose trains rather than unsafe fast driven express buses! We need someone that is fresh with positive thinking to head these kind of GLCs so that they can help the government generate money instead of having to spent more of the people's money in subsidizing GLC's!

Cetusan Minda Rakyat
www.ikhlasmalaysia.blogspot.com

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