KUALA LUMPUR – After billions spent, ridership on the MRT1 and MRT2 is still far below targets set at the inception of the public transportation projects, according to the Auditor-General’s Report 2/2024 on Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp).
The Finance Ministry-owned company had set ridership targets of 520,000 per day by 2023 for MRT1, but only achieved 182,196, or 35%.
For MRT2, the 2023 target, after the line’s second phase began operations, was 196,000 per day, but actual ridership was only 89,409 of 45.6%.
The audit report identified the same operational issues for both MRT1 and MRT2, namely, the number of trains running, which was below target, and peak hour frequency, which also did not meet targets.
For MRT1, which began operations on July 17, 2017, the target was to have 44 trains during peak hours running at frequencies of three minutes 20 seconds for the 2017-2019 period, to be improved to three-minute intervals for the 2020 to 2023 period.
However, the audit found that MRT1 operations never met these targets after 2017, clocking frequencies of four minutes in between trains, with 42 trains running at peak times.
The number of trains in operation during peak hours dropped to 38 for 2021 and 2022, and to 32 last year. Train frequency also worsened to five minutes in 2023.
As of December last year, of 58 trains allocated for MRT1, only 36 were in operation, 19 were waiting to have wheels replaced, two were undergoing wheel replacement, and one was removed from service.
MRT2, meanwhile, which began operations in June 2022 for its first phase, and March 2023 for its second phase, recorded ridership of only 20,842 (20%) against the targeted 104,000 for the first phase, and 89,409 (45.6%) against 196,000 for the second phase.
Its target was to have 45 trains running every four minutes at peak hours, but as of last year, only 37 trains were in service every three minutes.
Other than low ridership and frequency targets, the audit report found MRT Corp to have executed its projects satisfactorily, despite a three month delay in the launching of MRT2. – July, 4, 2024
