Volvo Buses host Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Conference together with Technology Depository Agency (TDA) and Prasarana / Some Thoughts After Listening to the Conference

Volvo Buses hosted the very first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia on November 19 th 2019. The event was held together with the Technology Depository Agency (TDA) and Prasarana government agencies related to technology and public transport. It was also supported by the Malaysian Government, The Swedish Embassy and Business Sweden with the intention to  bring together key stakeholders from across Malaysia to build a shared vision that will make Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) work successfully in Malaysia.

The BRT event is Volvo Buses' commitment towards Malaysia’s Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP), which ensures that every Ringgit Malaysia spends on Government procurement, the country is getting back more value in the form of technology transfer, human capital development and local companies’ enhancement in the global supply chain. The procurement in question which led to the ICP was the purchase of 90 Volvo Double Deck Buses for Rapid Bus.

According to what we understand, the procurement, or purchase of buses had exceeded the threshold stipulated in Policy and Guidelines on Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP) in Government Procurement (Second Edition) so most likely, with this Conference, Volvo Buses imparts more knowledge and know-how in terms of public transport especially in relation to Bus Rapid Transit. 

The Technology Depository Agency (TDA), an agency under the Ministry of Finance Malaysia, is responsible for managing, administering and monitoring all ICP activities implementation in Malaysia.

The BRT Conference was attended by over 270 delegates, and various media outlets. The guests of honour for the conference were The Honorouble Tuan Loke Siew Fook, Transport Minister of the Government of Malaysia and Swedish Ambassador to Malaysia, H.E. Dag Juhlin-Dannfelt, Embassy of Sweden who together opened the conference with speeches addressing the future of public transport in Malaysia.

The conference drew on the experience of BRT specialists, blending global insights with local experience. The aim was to identify and address key considerations in regards to BRT implementation including; planning, tendering, designing, constructing, operating and maintenance.

The agenda incorporated impressive keynote speeches from the following international

and local speakers:

 Xiaomei Duan, Chief Engineer, Guangzhou Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute, China

 Yoga Adiwinarto, Director of Engineering and Facility at PT. Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta), Indonesia

 Sue Chan, Head of UITP Asia Pacific, Hong Kong

 Frits Olyslagers, Public Transport / Institutional Specialist, Australia

 Muhammad Yazurin Sallij Muhammad Yasin, CEO Rapid Bus, Malaysia

 Stefan Widlund, City Mobility Director, Volvo Bus Corporation, Sweden

The key topics which were presented to delegates were;

 An international overview of the BRT concept and its suitability to prospering cities

 Existing business models using examples from across the globe

 Information on choosing the right technology, design, construction and operation

 The value of public transport and implementation of land value capture

 Malaysia’s latest developments as regards BRT systems

The programme also included a panel discussion on ‘The Future of Bus Rapid Transit in Malaysia’. Moderated by Sridhar Chari, a former public transport journalist from India, who now works in public relations for Volvo Buses, the panel discussion aimed to share, discuss and debate views, experiences, and ideas on future BRT systems in Malaysia.

The panel also discussed various technology choices - with clean Euro 6 diesel, hybrid technologies and an electric bus future all featuring in the discussions. Panellists in the discussion included:

 Muhammad Yazurin Sallij Muhammad Yasin, CEO Rapid Bus, Malaysia

 Xiaomei Duan, Chief Technical Officer, Far East BRT Planning Co. Limited, China

 Ahmad Radhi, Deputy Director General (Development) of APAD, Malaysia

 Jan Vandooren, Director Urban Mobility, Volvo Bus Corporation, Belgium

 Yoga Adiwinarto, Director of Engineering and Facility at PT. Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta), Indonesia

“Volvo Buses are extremely proud to be one of the organising partners behind this event. Volvo has immense experience with BRT and in fact, were the first to invent and deliver the high-capacity BRT system in Curitiba, Brazil in 1975. Since then, we have been actively involved in expanding BRT to all continents and encouraging discussions such as these to further promote the solution. For growing cities, we have seen excellent benefits from BRT systems such as, the reduction of travel time by 50% and increase to air quality and safety due to fewer cars on the road. At Volvo buses, we truly believe BRT to be the most flexible, scalable and cost-efficient transport infrastructure and we look forward to seeing many BRT developments in Malaysia’s future” says Volvo Buses Senior Vice President, Akash Passey.

The CEO of TDA, Dato’ Zailani Safari delivered the closing remarks that summarised the conference and highlighted the importance of ICP as an economic tool to develop and strengthen Malaysia’s economy through procuring technology and knowledge that is both foreign and not available locally. 

Our Thoughts on BRT in Malaysia After Listening to the Panel Discussion

By Sirap bandung - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40692057

But, one must note that it is our execution of all our plans which still leave a lot to be desired upon. After attending the later part of the conference, especially the panel discussion, we noted that the amount of information provided at the conference was thought provoking and actually quite an eye opener. 

While the event was well appreciated by most of the attendees, especially those who seem to be actually paying attention (we could see some of the government agency people who seem to be there, but not there if you know what we mean), it could be said that the push towards having Bus Rapid Transit here would need more cajoling and more political strength in order for it to move. The conference has charted a BRT solution for densely packed urban centres but it requires stakeholders from across the transport industry to join hands to achieve long term success.

We have to say that the BRT system could be a good way to use current road infrastructure. with some slight alterations, to transport a lot of people. We personally have seen it in action over in Jakarta where the public bus service is actually a BRT in action as the buses run through specially segregated bus lanes and the passengers embark and disembark on special plaforms in the middle of the road connecting people from both sides of the street or road. 

In the conference, the speakers also mentioned that BRT has been in use in South America to lots of success. It also is quite cost effective and actually works well in densely packed cities (with proper traffic control nonetheless). 

Of course, the highlight of the panel discussion which we actually listened was when the folks at Rapid elaborated on the BRT Sunway Line which is using a dedicated elevated bus lane with pure electric buses. This was the eye-opener and it does show what is wrong with our administrators in the first place. 

Our BRT Sunway Line first started in 2015 and it costed RM634 Million to build. It was built in partnership with Prasarana and Sunway Group. It is a dedicated BRT and the network services Sunway Setia Jaya to USJ7 or about 5.4km long. To date, it has received some criticism as regards to the ticket prices which has kept ridership low. Prasarana has always stated that the ticket prices are relatively low even though maintenance for the fully electric buses and dedicated route are high.

During the topics presented and the panel discussion, it was mentioned that for a BRT to operate successfully, it has to be affordable, the buses used must be efficient and should run on clean as well as have efficient engines (so that they do not pollute the air especially where they stop), It need not be of high technology which may incur extra maintenance costs. The BRT service must appeal to the masses and to be where it will have the highest return to investment.

However, to our amazement, the BRT Sunway Line had quite a different set of identifiers. Firstly, it was for a premium sort of bus service where they wanted to attract more of the suit and tie crowd (or high salaried crowd). Secondly, instead of going normal technology they decided to run battery powered electric buses rather than highly efficient, reliable diesel or biodiesel buses.

It would seem that the choices made by Prasarana were more like flights of fancy rather than based on reality. While they did base the BRT on existing BRTs in Bogota, Jakarta and Curitiba (Brazil), they went high end and high tech.

Of course, this has now become a RM634 million tuition fee of sorts. They have found out that there were no high salaried people taking the BRT - Actually only students who have their homes along to route would use it as the BRT links homes to colleges around Sunway. If people were to use the BRT to go to other places including to the KTM Commuter train station (which isn't something high salaried workers like to use as it isn't as punctual as the LRT or MRT), they would rather take something else. 

People here do not take public transport due to lack of last mile connectivity. The problem with the BRT in Sunway is that it took faces this problem and no way in hell would a high salaried worker like to suffer. They would rather take their car because of this so the Sunway BRT is actually for 'normal' folk to use, but since the ticket prices are expensive, 'normal' folk would not use.

We somehow fail to understand how could the people at Prasarana pre-2015 or pre-BRT come to the conclusion that the Sunway BRT is a 'Premium' Bus Service which will attract a premium crowd with premium ticket prices. Public transport is for the masses. There is nothing premium about it as it is part of a government's service to society, especially if it is run by a government body. 

Oh, Prasarana then gave a discount and ridership went up. Then when the price reverted back, the ridership went down. Quite obvious. So currently, there is something called the MY100 monthly pass which did make ridership go up. So you know where the commuters or BRT users in Sunway stand.

Now while non-profit is the key, it should also be run efficiently and at a break even point if possible. The use of battery powered electric buses may seem good for the environment but in the long run it has its issues in terms of maintenance and uptime. Battery powered buses have limitations and as of 2019, battery buses still suffer from less range, higher weight, andhigher procurement costs. The reduced infrastructure for overhead lines is partially offset by the costs of the infrastructure to recharge the batteries. In hot and humid environments like Malaysia, batteries may actually last less than what they are supposed to. 

So the best are actually diesel or biodiesel (for more environmentally friendly fuel) buses. This was what was suggested during the conference where the operator must balance between operating costs as well as other factors. 

We think Malaysia has been too forward thinking for its own good. We need to solve key issues first rather than think about going the next step. We shouldn't be thinking of going the next step when we have larger issues at hand. Rather than buy electric buses, it is better that Malaysia start forcing the implementation of Euro 6 Diesel which will automatically allow all vehicle manufacturers to bring in their latest engines which are clean burning. Now, most are running Euro 2m or at the very best, Euro 4M. The M here stands for 'Malaysian' standard which from what we know has more sulphur content than the respective Euro grade fuel. 

Once all engines pump out less sulphur, the environment is clean. Once Euro 6 is implemented, then only we should start thinking about next steps in terms of technology. We do not need to jump ahead of the curve. 

Of course, we have heard that Prasarana decided to buy the 90 new Volvo Buses equipped with Euro 6 engines! So We shall see how they intend to run these buses. Hopefully they will be be using our best diesel - Euro 4m and help keep things as clean as they can with such a grade of diesel.

So yes! The BRT Conference was actually quite unique! We did actually learn alot and we hope that the government of Malaysia, and the people running it would actually chart a better course in terms of BRT, and public bus services in the future because of this.

(from left to right):

1. Dato' Zailani Safari, CEO of Technology Depository Agency

2.  YB Tuan Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Minister of Transport, Malaysia.

3. Akash Passey, Senior Vice President, Volvo Bus Corporation

4. Dato' Mohamed Hazlan Mohamed Hussain, President & Group CEO, Prasarana Malaysia Bhd