Page 29 - PH Manifesto English

Promise 8: Improving the quality and coverage of public

transport

Our public transportation system is too heavily centralised in Kuala

Lumpur. Other areas in the country still need serious attention in terms of
quality and coverage of the services, be it in larger towns and especially in

rural areas. This is an ironic situation because the lower income population

in villages need private cars to travel, when their disposable income is
limited.

The Pakatan Harapan Government will widen the access and coverage of
public transports by incentivising bus companies to operate in semi-urban

and rural areas. Bus companies that want to bid for concessions in
profitable routes will be required to provide services in less populated areas

too. Strict actions will be taken to companies who fail to follow the rules so

that the failures of UMNO and Barisan Nasional can be rectified.

The Pakatan Harapan Government looks favourably at the advent of new

technologies and the growth of new economic sectors like e-hailing. We
acknowledge that other countries are piloting e-hailing using buses and

motorcycles.

We will work with the companies and owners of buses and school buses,

and we will encourage new entrepreneurs who own suitable vehicles, to
venture into this new sector so that it can grow in areas that need more

public transport. There is high potential in rural areas as well as Sabah and

Sarawak.

This will require a legal and governance system that is innovation-friendly,

so that more people can enter into the e-hailing sector, thereby contributing
to increasing the access to public transportation and at the same time

increase job opportunities for those in rural areas. The Pakatan Harapan

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