Train Systems Can be Made More Efficient and Effective

Hong Kong has an extensive MRT Network. Users are using Octopus card for cashless travelling. The card utilizes an integrated payment system and usually given at discounted price.

There are about 4.5 million commuters using the MRT during weekdays.
The main characteristic of Hong Kong MRT system is to have 99% efficiency level in train punctuality. Since the system started operation in the 80's, the MRT system never experience extensive delay and at most only 5 minutes delay due to unaccountable reason.

The operators of the system will disseminate or broadcast alternative routes to users in case of train disruption which most unlikely to happen.

The MRT system in Hong Kong is far from reaching its equilibrium where they are planning to extend the MRT network further to cover more areas throughout the city.

Hopefully, the operators of Malaysian transportation system can emulate the efficiency and effectiveness of the Hong Kong's MRT system.

Get Your Medication by Mail

Another milestone for the Ministry of Health for allowing medication to be sent via post instead of queuing up in government hospitals. The service is valid for those who are suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

The service will provide convenience to thousand of patients nationwide for relieving them from having to spend hours queuing-up to receive medication.
The service is available at 26 major hospitals nationwide.Patients only need to register once for the service and the medication would then be sent at a cost of RM3.50 within the Putrajaya area, RM5 to all other parts of Peninsular Malaysia and RM8 in Sabah and Sarawak.

The medication will be delivered through the Pos 1Malaysia service. To provide safety and security of the posted items, all medicines will be packed by the pharmacy staffs while serial numbers would enable postal staffs to track the parcels.

Read HERE for further detail.

The Renovated Puduraya Bus Station

The renovated Puduraya bus station will reopen on Feb 2. The total cost of renovation is 52  Million Ringgit. The Puduraya bus station started operation since 1976.

Passengers travelling North-Bound will have to go to the Puduraya bus station to catch a bus whereas passengers traveling South-Bound will have to go to the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan - Bandar Tasik Selatan.

The station was closed since April 2010 to uplift the operating condition of the facility.

Among the new features of the facility are as follows:

1) Fully air-conditioned passengers waiting area located at the ground floor. Passengers will be relieved since they don't have to inhale toxic bus emission as before.
2) Two escalators heading to the basement where buses are parked and one travellator from a new main entrance to the ground floor.
3) Two passenger lifts from the main entrance and four escalators to the second floor.
4) Ticket counters located on the first floor.
5) A prayer room (a surau) located on the second floor
6) Food court located on the fourth floor.
7) CCTV cameras are installed for passengers safety.

The reopening of the renovated Puduraya Bus station is eagerly waited by bus users. However, there are yet several other issues that need further attentions such as congestion issues due to inbound and outbound bus movements in the CBD area. Also, there is no indication on how the touts problems will be resolved. Hopefully, the Puduraya Bus Station management will put in place the preventive maintenance strategies to prevent the newly renovated facility from becoming run down again.

Read HERE for more info.

Flash Flood and Traffic Jam

Whenever there is a heavy down pour, flash flood will occur causes massive traffic jam during rush hour. Causes of the flash flood is due to inadequate drainage system to quickly flush water from the area. It is just a matter of identifying the affected area and start working on widening the drainage system to prevent the occurrences of flash flood which causes frustration and stress among motorists.

Usually traffic will stand still for several hours because small vehicles just cannot pass through the flooded section safely. The experiences cause motorists to arrive late for their appointment and also to their respective work place.


Another view of the flooded section of the road which is passable only by 4 x 4 vehicles, MPV or heavy vehicles. Other vehicles can also pass through the flooded section but vehicle's owner will have to pay hefty prices to repair their cars.




A view of flooded entrance to a housing estate due to inadequate drainage system.



One of the roundabout being used as a storage area for storm water. Keep in mind that in case that the roundabout is being upgraded in the future causes the flood water to overflow the surrounding roads and areas which can cause another disaster.






Another view of flooded entrance to the housing estate.

Pusat Jantung Hospital Umum Sarawak

Pusat Jantung Hospital Umum Sarawak, previously known as International Medical Center located at Kota Semarahan is officiated today by the Honorable Prime Minister.

The Heart Center started operation since 1st January this year.

11.1.11

Wish everyone a very fruitful day today. It is just a series of number i.e. 11.1.11 which does not indicate anything peculiar but we will not encounter this same number again in the future.

It is obvious that today is a very wet day here in the region with non stop rain since last night. We are still lucky here because there is no untoward incidents happening. Condolences to those who are being affected by flash flood in other region. Hope they will be able to cope with the act of mother nature.

Stuck in A Traffic Jam: Get a Motorbike and a Substitute Driver for Your Car

Imagine that you are driving your car to go to an airport to catch a flight and yet you are stuck in a traffic jam which surely causes you to miss the flight.

Similarly, if you are heading for an urgent business meeting but you are stuck in traffic jam.

It would be a wish for you to have someone to help you to get to the airport faster so that you will not miss the flight. However, if that someone can fetch you to the airport faster, what about your car which is still stuck in the traffic jam.

In Beijing, where drivers can get stuck in a traffic jam for hours or even days during an epic traffic jam, the services are really blooming. Just by contacting an agency using your handphone, someone will substitute you as the driver of the car while you are being whisked away using a motorcycle to the desired destination.

Enterprising locals see the opportunities to do business to help people to escape the traffic jam with a price.

I supposed that the business is really genuine since it will be very difficult to let some other people to drive your car and not to worry about your car being stolen or getting vandalized somewhere.

We are still fortunate in Malaysia since there will never be an incident to have that kind of epic traffic jam that can go on for several days. The traffic jam that we encountered usually can be cleared within several hours and usually travellers will adjust their timing by getting to the airport much earlier in order to avoid from missing flight.

Read HERE for some of the measures used in Beijing to reduce traffic jam in the cities.

Something Need to Be Done Immediately

The stretch of road as in the picture above seemed to be an accident prone location. There seemed to be several vehicles that had skidded before by looking at the several deformities along the guard rail.

It is a downhill section of the road and a tow truck was in the process of towing a car. The incident caused severe congestion on both sides of the road.

Something need to be done along the road to prevent further untoward incidents that might cause more fatal accidents along the stretch of road in the future.  

Proper investigation need to be carried out in order to determine the exact causes of the accidents.

The Summer Shopping Mall

It is confirmed that the land clearing activities adjacent to Desa Ilmu in Kota Semarahan will be the site for The Summer Shopping Mall.

THE Summer Shopping Mall will be a three-storey commercial mall scheduled to be opened by 2012.

The Summer Shopping Mall will be another shopping complexes beside The Spring Shopping Mall located at Batu Tiga in Kuching.

May be soon there will be The Winter Shopping Mall somewhere being developed nearby. I don't think there will be any developer dare to develop The Fall Shopping Mall because they don't want their business to be associated with the name of the Mall.

The Mall is located at a very strategic location surrounded by at least three higher education institutions for now.

The Mall will cover a total floor area of about 500,000 square feet with an anchor tenant to occupy the hypermarket and departmental store.

There will be over 220 retail shops including an eight-screen cineplex with ample parking space.

The Mall will provide job opportunities for the surrounding communities.

The Mall also will boost the value of properties nearby.

The Mall also will contribute to social related problems, hopefully this will not happen, to the surrounding communities.

The good news is that, students at the nearby higher institutions will not have to go to Kuching for entertainment because it is located just next to their door step. Hopefully, they will still dutifully go to their classes on time.

Watch video of The Summer Shopping Mall.

Funfair is Back in Town

This funfair is back in town and it seemed that the funfair operates at the designated spot several times in a year. The funfair is a small travelling show consists of several stalls and amusements. This funfair will only stay at a particular location only for certain period of time and then they will move on to other locations after that.


Above is one of the amusements available at the funfair and the workers were seen unpacking the set.

Surprisingly, this type of business is still thriving nowadays despite the availability of TV shows, Astros, Facebooking etc. This shows that the funfair is still relevant nowadays despite the stiff competition with other types of amusements available to the public.

Of course the funfair is not a match of Genting Highland's fairground or Sunway Lagoon.

Well, that is how certain quarters make their living.

Terminal Bersepadu Selatan - Bandar Tasik Selatan

The Terminal Bersepadu Selatan - Bandar Tasik Selatan or Integrated Transportation Terminal Bandar Tasik Selatan (ITT-BTS) started operations on the 1st January 2010.

The terminal is operated by Maju TMAS (Terminal Management and Services). The operator of the terminal had promised that the state-of-the art services offered at the terminal will be the first in the country to provide comfort and convenient to the public.

However, out of 51 bus companies, only eight companies started their operation at the terminal since Jan 1. There seemed to be something bothering the remaining bus companies from operating at the new terminal.

Refer HERE for more facilities available at the terminal.

In order to operate the facilities, the operator imposes charges to bus companies. However, several bus companies disputed the additional charges because they said that the facilities were built using tax payers money. The bus companies should realize that the terminal operator had to impose charges in order to run and manage the facilities efficiently.


Unfortunately, there is no such signage yet at the terminal. Soon there will be because there is no ticketing system implemented for taxi at the terminal. Taxis have to use their metered system and it can be subjected to touts' activities.
The bus companies also disputed the implementation of the e-ticketing system at the terminal. In order to prevent touts, bus passengers are required to get their ticket at the terminal and additional charges were being imposed to the passengers for the e-ticket even though they had purchased their ticket online using the bus operators' online ticketing system. There seemed to be no integration and coordination done by the terminal operator with the bus companies' e-ticketing system.

The chaotic and non-systematic e-ticketing system, as claimed by the bus operators, would affect the smooth issuance of ticket to passengers during the upcoming festive season if the e-ticketing issues are not being tackled immediately. The terminal would be jam packed by users in order to get their tickets and causes severe congestion.

The Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) had been instructed to meet with the terminal operator and bus companies to resolve disputes over the issues. Read HERE for more news.

As of now, the wishes of the terminal operator to provide convenience and comfort of the public are yet to be ascertained. Hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon so that all bus companies will start using the facility and the public will gain a lot of benefits from the initiative.

It is already high time for Malaysia to have such a facility with the state-of-the art system.
Hopefully, the 570 million state-of-the-art facility will serve it intended purpose.

Say NO to Plastic Bags

Ruling on “no free plastic bag day” on Saturday at hypermarkets, supermarkets and Petronas stations nationwide was launched simultaneously in all states recently.


For those who are unaware of the ruling, don't worry, just pay 20 sen for each plastic bag.

For those who are environmentally concern, they are most like well prepared by bringing along reusable grocery bag.

The campaign are expected to reduce significantly the amount of plastic bags and safe the environment.

To totally reduce the amount of plastic bags, all stores nationwide must participate in the effort and the rulings should be practiced everyday. Say NO to Plastic Bags.
 
However, as expected the rulings does not go well with plastic bags factory.

Dangerous Zone: Uncovered Manhole

It seems that the price of metal is peaking up again by looking at the tell tale sign such as missing manhole covers etc. The uncovered manhole poses threat to road users because of untoward accidents could happen at any time. Small children riding their bikes could easily get severe injury if they fall into the manhole. The location of the road with the missing manhole covers is at a popular site leading to a lake in Desa Ilmu.

However those who remove the manhole cover should realize that they are really a menace to the society and they should immediately return the manhole cover to its original position. I am afraid that the manhole cover had reached nearby scrapped metal dealers in exchange for a very tiny amount of money at the expense of the community at large.