MALAYSIA’S MOST CONGESTED CITY
In January, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim officially launched construction of Penang’s Mutiara LRT Line. This nearly 30km line, with 21 stations, is expected to begin service in December 2031.
Penang is a car-centric city with a well-developed road network but is paralysed by congestion. The annual TomTom traffic index ranked Penang’s capital, George Town, the most congested city in Malaysia in 2024, with an average driving time of 27 minutes per 10km, equivalent to a speed of about 22 kmh.
Its existing bus network of 47 routes, served by a fleet of about 350 buses, is insufficient for the island’s needs. Land constraints limit the extent to which Penang can add road space to alleviate congestion, not to mention the fact that adding roads does not commensurately reduce congestion since it also encourages more driving by new and existing drivers.
Traffic congestion has been known to cause delays at bus stations and terminals, affecting bus arrival times. In November 2024, Penang rolled out a six-month pilot to trial bus lanes in the inner city to improve public transport efficiency.
Until the LRT line opens, the most effective strategy Penang can employ to reduce congestion is to move more commuters from cars into buses, especially during rush hour.
Ramping up bus services now will not only reduce present congestion, it will also lay the groundwork for a wider catchment area of transit users when the LRT line opens. Since Penang is a medium-density city, buses will provide crucial first-and-last mile connections for many from LRT stations when the system opens.
In Singapore, 44.5 per cent of public transport journeys to work in 2020 involved a combination of both bus and train segments. Given Penang’s lower population density and smaller rail network, buses will be even more important for commuters to complete trips fully by public transport. Without a large complementary bus network, public transit will be a much less viable transport mode for private car users, making the LRT’s 10.5 billion ringgit (US$2.4 billion) price tag harder to justify.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/malaysia-traffic-congestion-penang-johor-bus-train-lrt-rts-4992521
