By IPS Correspondents
PENANG, Feb 8 2006 (IPS)

Fed up with failure by authorities to ensure an efficient public transport system on this bustling island, civil society groups are planning to take recourse to legal action.

Citizens have been asking the authorities for better public transport for years, says Nizam Mahshar, coordinator for the Citizens for Public Transport, a network of 24 civil society groups.

And now, as a last resort, the CPT is planning to file suit against the federal Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) in the hope of encouraging it to improve public transport on Penang island.

‘‘Of late, we hear about proposed mega projects such as the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR), a second bridge (linking Penang Island to the mainland) and a monorail.” But there is little priority given to public transport, which has been neglected, he laments.

The deterioration has reached a point where it is open to question whether Penang has any longer a public transport system, said the CPT in a joint statement. ‘‘The word ‘system’ implies a regulated order, whereas what we currently have in Penang is a state of absolute chaos.”

The network expressed concern over the poor management of the bus services in Penang. ‘‘Buses (especially mini-buses, which dominate the public transport scene on the island) are being hired out to individual bus drivers who are free to operate these buses according to their whims and fancies,” it observed.

Joachim Xavier, an employee of the Penang Office for Human Development, which is part of CPT, is all too familiar with the bus service.

‘‘It is atrocious, ” he says. ‘‘The buses are dirty and unsafe.” Bus drivers pack the passengers in and drive like daredevils, he adds. Worse, the doors often do not work properly and are left open. ‘‘People are swung around inside and they are in danger of being flung out.”

Bus drivers sometimes stray from their usual routes, claims Xavier. ‘‘You may have to get off at the nearest stop and walk some distance to your original destination,” he says.

At the start of a route, passengers may have to wait inside the bus for up to half an hour as the crew wait to fill the buses to the brim before leaving. At other times, buses simply do not show up. ‘‘I have waited for up to two hours at major bus stops like the ferry terminal and Komtar ( city bus terminal).”

What’s more, buses are poorly maintained and breakdowns frequent.

Several factors contribute to a lack of incentive to improve public transport.

The government’s focus on boosting the indigenous automobile industry through the various ‘national cars’, coupled with cheap financing and poor public transport, has driven up private vehicle ownership.

Moreover, highway construction is a lucrative business for construction companies and toll operators, many of whom are politically well connected. These highway operators stand to make huge profits from tolls over the years.

For Choong Sim Poey, the coordinator of Sustainable Transport Environment Penang , the problem is clear: the CVLB he claims, ‘‘does not regulate or enforce” public transport operators.

‘‘There is clear evidence that they have failed to do anything effective for the last 10 years,” he says.

Some believe that a ‘rentier culture’ in public transport is flourishing. They allege that public transport licence holders stand to earn handsome commissions by subcontracting their licences to operators – some of whom may be incompetent – who are allowed to run their services largely unencumbered by any regulations or enforcement.

So bad is public transport that hundreds of thousands of Malaysians opt for their own motorcycles and cars. In Penang alone, there are some 1.5 million registered motor vehicles for a population of 1.5 million, with the registration rate increasing by 9.5 percent annually.

But there is a limit to road space as vehicles rapidly clog existing roads. Over the Chinese (lunar) New Year holidays last week, out-of-town motorists poured into the island city, choking up main arteries leading to the city and to tourist centres.

Unlike the capital of Kuala Lumpur, Penang does not have a light rail transit system although the government resurrects talk of improved public transport each time an election draws near.

One of the proposals to improve mobility on the island is the controversial and much criticised 2 billion ringgit (535 million US dollars), 17 km PORR project. In December, the cabinet approved the award of a contract to an obscure firm, Peninsular Metro Works Sdn. Bhd.

‘‘Giving out a two billion (ringgit) contract (for the tolled ring road) without an open tender will encourage corruption,” wrote chartered civil engineer Koon Yew Yin, a former member of the Board of Engineers, Malaysia, a statutory body to regulate the engineering profession. ‘‘The amount of money is so huge that even a saint would be tempted.”

But ever-increasing oil prices have cast doubt on the wisdom of pursuing transport policies based on private vehicle ownership. Many among the lower and middle class private vehicle owners are reeling from the impact of rising oil prices.

Perhaps no group is more affected than the disabled. Penang’s public transport is becoming from bad to worse, says Nordin Hanafiah, coordinator of Sustainable Independent Living and Access, a coalition of disabled groups and concerned individuals that is part of CPT.

‘‘The buses stop where they like, when they like,” grumbles Nordin, and this makes it hard for the disabled to identify them. ‘‘Because of the poor bus service, we have to use alternatives like taxies, which do not use their meters,” he sighs. ‘‘It’s very costly for us.”

The authorities appear to have heard of the brewing discontent. The Penang government presented its proposals to the CVLB on Jan.19 and an official announcement of a revamp of public transport in Penang is expected soon.

Civil society activists, who have heard so many promises in the past, are not holding their breath.

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