MRT helps reduce cost of living

Almost everyday since last year, 23-year-old Nursing Science student Nur Syahirah Yusof has to drive her car from home in Kajang to her campus in Sungai Buloh as she could not get hostel accommodation.

If she had to attend a lecture at 8 am, she has to leave the house as early as 5.30 am and brave the morning traffic for more than two hours before she reaches her destination.

Apart from having to cover a distance of about 100km for the daily return trips, her weekly expenses would also include toll charges amounting to RM100 and RM80 for fuel.

However, with the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line to be fully operational tomorrow (Monday), life would be lot easier for Nur Syahirah.

In fact, the Kajang MRT station is located quite near to her home.

“With the ticket priced at RM6.40 for one way journey from Kajang to Sungai Buloh, I can definitely save on daily expenses and use the savings to buy stationery and reference books,” she said.

Meanwhile, private college student Malissa Abdullah, 20, said by using the MRT, she could save her traveling time from KL Sentral to Semantan Station to attend classes.

“Currently, I have to wait for feeder bus at KL Sentral for a journey that would normally take about 30 minutes to Semantan, but with MRT, it will only take me about 10 minutes,” she said.

For marketing executive Tommy Yeoh, 29, he would no longer need to spend about RM100 a month for his parking fees once the MRT is fully operational.

“Parking fees are very expensive at my working place in Bukit Bintang. Now that the MRT is to be fully operational from tomorrow, I don’t need to drive all the way from Subang to Bukit Bintang, which takes about two hours,” he said.

Housewife Shally Teoh, 30, said traffic congestion would definitely be reduced as people could use the MRT to go to shopping centres instead of driving especially during the weekend.

“MRT users will no longer have to worry about parking fees and toll charges,” she said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is expected to launch the MRT SBK Line on Monday.

The opening of the Phase 2 of the MRT SBK line for Semantan-Kajang route this week will complete the 51km MRT SBK Line through high density areas such as Kajang and Cheras, as well as popular tourist destinations, such as the National Museum and the Central Market.

The MRT SBK Line project, which is implemented at at cost of RM23 billion, will provide a modern transportation service for 1.2 million people along the corridor.

Each train set serving the line will have four coaches, allowing a total capacity of 1,200 passengers with the frequency of 3.5 minutes between each train and estimating its daily ridership to be about 400,000 passengers.

The second MRT line (MRT-2) involving the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) route along 52.5km, is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022 while the final MRT line (MRT-3) is still at the planning stage.

-- BERNAMA