RapidKL announces Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plans

An artist's impression of the elevated Bus Rapid Transit system. Photo: RapidKL

It’s like the LRT, only it’s an eco-friendly bus with its own dedicated lanes and ‘customer-friendly’ stations. That pretty much sums up the BRT, which is part of RapidKL’s plans for an integrated public transportation system to address our ever-growing concern about traffic congestion in the city (they predict that we’ll all be stuck in a massive gridlock by 2020, what with the Klang Valley population growing exponentially and everyone preferring to drive than take the bus or LRT).

Here’s what we know about the BRT:
1. The BRT is an elevated Bus Rapid Transit system, meaning buses will have their own (elevated, according to the artist’s impression) lanes.

2. The first BRT line will be the Sunway Line, linking up key areas in Sunway, USJ and Subang.

3. The Sunway Line will have seven stations, including ones near KTMB Setia Jaya, Sunway Mentari Business Park, The Pinnacle, Sunway Medical Centre and Monash University, among others. View the map here (but take note of this slight amendment).

4. One station will have a park-and-ride facility.

5. Buses will be eco- and disabled-friendly. Each bus can fit up to 60 passengers.

6. The seventh and final stop will connect to a future LRT station in USJ 6 (now only called ‘Proposed Station No 7’. Catchy). 

7. The project is expected to be completed by 2015. We’re not sure if they mean Malaysian time or not.

We’ll update this post once we get more info about the BRT, so watch this space. In the meantime, what do you think about the BRT? Will this finally put an end to traffic congestion in the area?

For more on the BRT, visit www.myrapid.com.my.

- news from timeout.com