Travelling by bus in Ipoh

The denizens of Ipoh have been pleading for a decent public transport system for years. Parents refuse to allow their children to take the bus because it is slow and rickety, and so very unreliable.

Recently, the Consortium of Bus Companies decided to add a few new buses to ply the different routes in and around Ipoh to appease the Ipohites, but travelling by bus does not seem to have caught on with the younger people.

When I was forced to take the bus the other day, I realized that there are so many reasons why buses are not commuter-friendly. In the first place, one does not know where the bus stop is. Aren’t positions of bus shelters gazetted? Then why don’t the authorities build and maintain them.

The next obstacle was not knowing which bus to hail to get to town. One passed by and said Ipoh but I was informed that it was heading for the bus station and coming back the same way. I wanted to get to Ipoh town! To avoid confusion among intercity buses, inter-town buses and intracity buses, why can’t they be differentiated, maybe by their colour or size?

Why can’t there be proper route maps at the bus shelters? Oops, I forgot, there were no bus shelters in the first place!

The local authorities recently spent RM25,000 erecting one bus shelter in the district of Ulu Kinta. I wonder why they couldn’t have spent RM5000 on five bus shelters at various designated places in Ipoh.

Anyway, something should be done to inform the public about the route and the fare that needs to be paid. The bus that I got on to that day did not even have a conductor. The driver had to stand in as the fare collector!

Life and .....

Has your perspective on life changed because you have been informed that the world will come to an end in 2012?

Or are you carrying on with your daily activities as though you will live forever?

Imagine the disparity!

Imagine blissfully going for a morning walk at 10a.m. or a jog at 12 noon in a tropical country!

Imagine living in a house with no grilled doors or windows!

Imagine having a bus service at your doorstep that will take you to any nook and corner of your town/city if you know which connecting bus to board!

Imagine no more! All these perks are enjoyed by those living in our neighbouring country.

Why is there this disparity?

These are also the things you would not have known about if you had gone to Singapore, either to explore it on your own or on a guided tour.

I vouch that when one goes on a visit to a foreign land, one should attempt to savour the life of the people there. The best way to do this is to immerse oneself in a home of the locals, to learn about their culture and lifestyles.

Sometimes, the best way to do this is to watch the Travel and Living Channel on Astro!

What do statistic figures reveal?

It was recently announced in the STAR that fewer illegal racers (Mat Rempits) have been caught over the last three years in Perak. In 2009, only 52 were charged in court. Last year, only 22 were detained and for the first four months of this year, only ten were detained. These numbers do not mean that there are fewer ‘Mat Rempit’ on the streets!

All one has to do is take a drive along the main streets of Ipoh in the early hours of the morning of a public holiday or a weekend. At some point, you will come across what looks like a herd of cows wearing headlamps. They ride slowly and as a posse in front of the police station.

However, about 100 yards past the police station, they rev their engines and break off from the group. They then meander in and out of main streets, creating a ruckus and waking up the neighbourhood.

The Statistics can easily be changed if the authorities concerned stop closing one eye (and their ears), but take action to detain these illegal racers!