Improve first-and-last-mile issues to ease traffic congestion, says transport expert
Jerrica · Jun 14, 2022 10:27 AM
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Traffic congestion in Malaysian cities has been a hot topic ever since the country transitioned to endemicity in April 2022. Now a transport expert has weighed in on the situation suggesting that the government to solve first-and-last-mile issues as the first step to solving the congestion issue.
In an interview by New Straits Times (NST), Associate Professor in Transport Engineering Dr Nur Sabahiah Abdul Sukor from the Universiti Sains Malaysia said it is one of the best solutions that would help ease traffic congestion.
She notes that although the country has witnessed significant improvements in public transportation, it is still facing poor connectivity problems. To reach public transport hubs, Malaysians still need to drive or utilise e-hailing services.
She suggests that authorities need to understand the transit patterns of public transport users before designing an integrated transportation system.
First, identify the transit stations with higher demand, then identify the origin and destination to and from the station. After understanding the origin and destination, they should provide the appropriate facilities and infrastructure for walking and cycling.
She stresses that first mile and last-mile access to public transport should always start and end by walking and cycling. She quoted multiple studies that Malaysians are willing to walk up to 500 m if there are comfortable and safe pathways.
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Now that cycling activities have increased, she suggests that authorities start providing facilities like cycling paths and bicycle parking too.
Another transport expert, Goh Bok Yen, also weighed in on the issue. While he agrees that improving the public transport system would achieve shift users away from private vehicles and help ease road congestion, the result would not be significant at this stage.
This is because Malaysians have made the intensive use of private vehicles a habit and think of public transport as the last choice. Malaysians are still far from making public transport their first choice in commuting to work.
Goh also pointed out that the length of trips to work, business, and leisure is not long enough to warrant the use of Park-N-Ride since driving a private vehicle is more reliable and comfortable.
He notes that the low public transport uptake and poor public transportation system would remain for at least five to 10 years. He also pointed out that without a strategy to restrain the use of private vehicles, Malaysians will never think of public transport as their first choice.
Goh suggests that the authorities adopt a more sensible and restrained private transport use by looking at the wider perspective such as social, land use, economic activities, cheap subsidised motoring cost and more to help Malaysians look at the public transport system in a new light.
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