An open letter to RapidKL

Like they will ever read my blog, right? But I shall do it nonetheless.

Dear upper management of RapidKL;

It is said that in China, ministers used to have to work for some time yearly in their area of expertise. Hence, if you were the Minister of Mining, you would have to spend a week or a month digging for coal or somesuch.

Perhaps you should consider such an exercise - or at least you should take public transport for a month or so exclusively. That way, you may better understand the frustrations of us who have to do so.

1. It is ridiculous that you still cannot provide us with anything resembling accurate timetables after FOUR years of operation. The best you can do is "uh, we start at such a time, and we run every X minutes" and even then you cannot guarantee the timings, not even to within 15 mins. I have personally had to wait 90 minutes - that's ONE AND A HALF HOURS - more than once for a bus that's supposed to be on a 20 minute frequency.
2. Have you had a look at the websites of many public transportation systems in the Western world? Just take a look at them, please. Not only do they have timetables, but they have ROUTE PLANNERS, inclusive of maps and detailed instructions. The technology is not difficult to implement; heck, you can ask Google Maps or Microsoft to help you out here. And they keep the information up to date. Your website, on the other hand, stinks. We have to use JavaScript, it is not viewable in alternative browsers such as Opera, you still boast of all-day tickets when you will be changing it over NEXT MONTH - in short, there is no value-add to your website at all. Tell me again, what the heck do you have it for?
3. You ask us to carry small change - worse, to carry EXACT fare. Why? Why can't you allow your drivers to have some facility for making change? Are you afraid of fraud? Can't your drivers count? I am not asking that your bus drivers change for RM100 bills - obviously, there needs to be some limit to this sort of thing. But for crying out loud, if I have an RM5, you should be able to give me back RM4.
4. I don't even want to discuss the LRT, which air conditioning is lacking at the best of times, which is perennially packed to the brim during peak hours, and where the rides are as smooth as using a Jeep to go across Taman Negara.
   

We are trying to achieve industrialised, First World status as a nation over the next decade. I fully realise that the general public have issues, but surely some measures can be taken towards resolving some of these problems with the public transportation network. For Malaysia, please.