More parking bays for Light Rail Transit (LRT) users are in the works, according to rail operator Prasarana Malaysia Berhad.
The Malay Mail Online‘s Ida Lim, reports that Prasarana wants to make more space for commuters to park their vehicle as a way to boost the percentage of people using public transport as their main mode of transport.
The company aims to increase the number from the current 21 per cent, to 40 per cent by 2030.
“We need to continually convince members of the public to switch to public transport. Either they leave their cars at home or drive to the nearest park and ride facility and use our LRT or the KTM Komuter,” Prasarana’s head of media affairs Azhar Ghazali told MMO over email.
The newly-opened extensions for Sri Petaling and Kelana Jaya LRT lines have 2,200 and 2,036 parking bays respectively. Commuters are charged RM4 per entry.
The news site reported that there are seven stations along the new Sri Petaling extension that come with parking areas: Awan Besar (184), Muhibbah (254), Kinrara BK5 (188), IOI Puchong Jaya (464), Pusat Bandar Puchong (120), Taman Perindustrian Puchong (347) and Putra Heights (452).
Along the Kelana Jaya extension, parking bays are available at: Ara Damansara (743), Glenmarie (558), USJ 21 (562), Alam Megah (206) and Subang Alam (109).
Azhar was quoted as saying that not all new stations come with parking lots and that’s because there was no excess land available near these locations.
“Parking areas will need land. Prasarana can only work on the land assigned to us by the government for the development of public infrastructure facilities i.e. stations,” he told the MMO.
“But, we are working with our partners like the local authorities to develop more parking areas. The parking near Asia Jaya, for example, is developed by MBPJ,” he was quoted as saying.
“Prasarana is also working with property developers to develop mixed commercial areas with parking facilities within the development,” he was quoted further.
