First, I wrote about the LRT,
Then, the 1 hr wait for the KTM Komuter at Mid Valley
Now: the MONORAIL and KL Sentral.
First: the usual case lah in Malaysia - the infrastructure is so badly planned... no forward thinking town planner, or perhaps none with the vision, or probably the authority, to ensure a truly integrated public transport system.
Hence, the two separate LRT lines don't really "interact" : the "interchange" between what were the STAR and PUTRA lines involves walking out onto the street then back into the "system".
So, at KL Sentral, the "Central Station" of KL, the monorail starts/ends there.
BUT unless you REALLY look out for signs for it, you are not gonna find your way to the monorail.
To get to the monorail station, you need to head out to Brickfields (Jalan Tun Sambanthan).
From this sign, you see NO indication for the monorail.
In fact, even the sign indicating the "exit to Jalan Tun Sambanthan" seems to be a later add-on right?
But trust me, this is the right direction!
If you just keep walking in that direction, just at the end of the building, you might just see this dinky little sign:
So, take the stairs down, then either cross the parking lot, or if you already know the way from another visit, you can walk through a covered bazaar type place.
Wait for the pedestrian light to turn green.
Cross the road.
THEN you are at the monorail station.
Silly, eh?
Btw, this is the view from the monorail station, loking at KL Sentral.
Anyways... so the trip itself was pretty nice.
What I was proud to see was people unhesitatingly giving up their seats for blind/sight-impaired people. I was standing anyways, or I'd have done it too.
The only real drawback I could see (or NOT see, as the case may be), is that they plastered advertisements across the windows, so I couldn't enjoy the view from the traincar!
That's a shame, isn't it?
I suppose the monorail operator wants all the advertising revenue it can get... and whoever thought up the idea of plastering the windows should be shot. I acknowledge it *is* a brilliant idea. But it's also totally invasive and annoying.
Then, the 1 hr wait for the KTM Komuter at Mid Valley
Now: the MONORAIL and KL Sentral.
First: the usual case lah in Malaysia - the infrastructure is so badly planned... no forward thinking town planner, or perhaps none with the vision, or probably the authority, to ensure a truly integrated public transport system.
Hence, the two separate LRT lines don't really "interact" : the "interchange" between what were the STAR and PUTRA lines involves walking out onto the street then back into the "system".
So, at KL Sentral, the "Central Station" of KL, the monorail starts/ends there.
BUT unless you REALLY look out for signs for it, you are not gonna find your way to the monorail.
To get to the monorail station, you need to head out to Brickfields (Jalan Tun Sambanthan).From this sign, you see NO indication for the monorail.
In fact, even the sign indicating the "exit to Jalan Tun Sambanthan" seems to be a later add-on right?
But trust me, this is the right direction!
If you just keep walking in that direction, just at the end of the building, you might just see this dinky little sign:
So, take the stairs down, then either cross the parking lot, or if you already know the way from another visit, you can walk through a covered bazaar type place.
Wait for the pedestrian light to turn green. Cross the road.
THEN you are at the monorail station.
Silly, eh?
Btw, this is the view from the monorail station, loking at KL Sentral.
Anyways... so the trip itself was pretty nice.
What I was proud to see was people unhesitatingly giving up their seats for blind/sight-impaired people. I was standing anyways, or I'd have done it too.
The only real drawback I could see (or NOT see, as the case may be), is that they plastered advertisements across the windows, so I couldn't enjoy the view from the traincar! That's a shame, isn't it?
I suppose the monorail operator wants all the advertising revenue it can get... and whoever thought up the idea of plastering the windows should be shot. I acknowledge it *is* a brilliant idea. But it's also totally invasive and annoying.
Yes, the very first time I rode the MonoRail was also from Sentral. Had to ask a few eople where the MonoRail station was as there were absolutely NO signs and I was expecting it somehow to be integrated to Sentral (very naive of me, I admit).
ReplyDeleteThe bazaar is there again? When I was back in January, it was deserted, no bazaar at all.
One thing they had at the "cowded" stations (Sungei Wang, BTS, were "jagas" who would get people to line up and stop the people from cramming into the train when it was obviously full.
Great blog on the KL transport system. Your articles can be used as a yardstick to IF the BN government lives up to its promise to "imprive public transport".
Which reminds me, when a review on taxis and busses? ;-)
yeah i didn't see any "jagas" - likely cos I was traveling on a Sunday, so the crowd wasn't too bad at all...
ReplyDeletetaxis - waaaaay too expensive loh! nuff said :p
busses - maaaaybe,,, now that the "15 city shuttle" busses are RM2 all day, I could just explore the routes... see lah how :p
And i thought that public transport here sucks.... :-)
ReplyDelete