When I was still living in Bukit Mertajam (my hometown), I almost never took public transport. My mum drives us to literally everywhere, and even if she can't due to whatever reason, someone else in the family would carry the job for her instead. That's why I never knew how buses work in my place despite that there is indeed a bus stop within a 100m radius from my house.
But since I am now in university, I lost access to cars and whatever you call as private transport, and the only way for me to go further than where my legs allow me to walk to is to use public transport. Sure, Grab is a thing but they are just...expensive. I would rather walk.
So, my friend came back to Malaysia recently and will be staying in KL for quite some time. I do want to meet him before I go home despite finals are so close (in fact, my first paper will start in 13 hours at the time of posting), so we decided on a place to meet, in which we chose Bandar Sunway as he will be staying near there.
Alright, place settled, Now we have another problem - how should I go there?
His first suggestion was to let me take a Grab and pay RM40 to reach there, but as I said above I am a little poor for that. I prefer to use the public transport facilities I have around me, and probably learn how to use them properly since I will be stuck here for the next 4 years. It should be worth learning the ins and outs of these trains and buses, eh?
Bandar Sunway and my place (Salak Tinggi) is just two totally different places in Selangor, so moving there with public transport looks a little daunting at first sight. My instinct tells me that I can take the ERL to KL Sentral, then see how I can reach Bandar Sunway from there since KL Sentral is like...an inter-dimensional portal in MapleStory. Basically there's no place you cannot reach with it, but I decided to think a little further for other possible routes. Why? The ERL train ticket to KL Sentral from my place will cost me at least RM16. It would be good to save a little more on ERL train costs since it makes up most of the travel fees here.
Then...heh, there's another station nearer. The Putrajaya Sentral is just RM4.30 away from my location with ERL. Let's see how I can reach my destination from there then.
To be honest, this looks faster and cheaper.
After making sure with @mistyexe that everything on the site is actually updated (sometimes, this type of information needs more confirmation than anything else) and I won't get stuck somewhere halfway, I departed somewhere in the morning. It's not hard to go to Putrajaya Sentral as I mentioned, taking the ERL train for one station will do. The hard part...is here.
I won't lie that I have absolutely no idea how to board a bus. Misty told me that I could use a Touch n Go card instead of using tickets, just tap when boarding up, and tap again when leaving. Sounds easy enough, but where to find the card? Yep, automated vending machines. But too bad they only accept RM10 notes, all I have at that time is RM20 notes and it is so early that the convenience shops around has no change for me. Pain.
So I asked to buy a card in one of the shops, and it happened that they don't have any in-stock too. Pretty wonderful...so one of the staff went to other shops to find one for me. It took a good 10 minutes and he finally returned, "here's the last one".
Maybe I'm really lucky that day. Kappa.
The card itself takes RM10, so I put another RM10 in it as a reload. This card is pretty much usable for all forms of public transport except for ERL and ETS rides so I think it's pretty worth it considering that I will be staying here for the next few years. The expiry date for the card is pretty surprisingly long, dated at 2028/08. But whatever the credit inside will only stay for 1 year so I have to somehow burn it before next year August :3
After getting the card, I started to look for my bus 506. The station isn't that huge and there aren't too many buses around so it is actually not too hard to find it and I managed to get in it just before it departs.
To be honest, this is the first time I'm boarding a bus in Malaysia. Well, not really the first time, but it's the first time I'm using a bus alone to travel to somewhere notably far away. According to RapidKL's route planning function on the site, the trip will take around 40 minutes, but due to the bus being pretty empty (6 peeps on it including me) and it's still an early weekend, the roads aren't crowded and the bus managed to reach at that station for like...20 minutes earlier. I know it's pretty astonishing, I'm quite astonished too. I never heard buses reach their destinations earlier than schedule lul.
This trip kinda changed my perspective on buses - once upon a time I thought that they were slow, inconvenient, and somehow dirty. But yeah that's because I never took a bus in my life and that's all those horrible perceptions I had. Everything seems super smooth boarding buses - get to the station, find your bus, get into it, tap the card, and enjoy the view until you reach the destination, just remember to tap again before you leave.
I still remember the buses in my hometown, they are also as empty as this one most of the times. Probably I have found a good explanation for the horrible traffic jams we get in Bukiit Mertajam every single day then.
It just took me about 20 minutes before the bus swiftly dropped me at the bus stop in front of Tesco, in which the route planner told me to get down on. The planner wanted me to find the LRT station and go to Pusat Bandar Puchong before going for another bus, but uh...where's the LRT station?
KL is a pretty strange place. I looked here and there for LRT stations and signs or stuff like that, and after around 5 minutes of walking and looking around...
Ah okay.
Yeah, that's why I can't see it from below...it's on the other side and no one really looks up under the sun.
To my surprise, I don't even need to go to take the LRT to Pusat Bandar Puchong, because this is already Pusat Bandar Puchong. I refreshed the route planner with my updated location and it turns out that I only need to catch one more bus and there's my destination. Probably some bug in the route planner lul.
This bus is quite an interesting one, because it's actually free and many are actually using it. If not mistaken, the bus around my school (in Sepang) is also free. Probably I should do some research on it to see where it can bring me to. I had a map on it but I don't know where I threw it to...maybe there's an app for it. Even if there's not, I can write one
The vehicle looks like this when the lights are off, just similar to the one I have around my school. It is also surprising that there seems to be a bunch of people using this service here, meanwhile the free buses around my university are just empty most of the times. I guess people in the city are more used to public transport? Probably :3
Again, it dropped me at my destination a little earlier than I expected. I guess the route planner expects the traffic to move slower than usual so that no one will complain about late schedule XD, or maybe I'm just lucky because the traffic might be better during weekends. Whatever, it's just feels pretty great that I managed to not get lost somewhere in Klang Valley by using only public transport to move around :D
In general, public transport around Klang Valley seems pretty well established, at least it feels better than public transport in Penang (the island part should be pretty good, I'm talking about the mainland part, or it is also good but I don't know because I never had the chance to try it). Now I think I should keep a copy of this map to guide me whenever I need to go somewhere again.
Now it just needs destinations of buses and probably time schedules :3 probably I can do my own research and draw my own super big public transport map of KL when I have the time :) or do we have one already done? I would be happy to keep a copy.
It's been quite a ride, time to say bye and see you next time~
--Lilacse
P/s: How to go back to my university from KL Sentral without using ERL?
Definitely looks super intense, I guess the price for ERL is worth paying haha.
Another ping detectedI'll for sure ping you in the next post
Honestly I'm glad to hear that things gone pretty well that day
(with exceptions during your card purchase lul and you even went to KLCC wew).Like I told you in Discord, a Touch n Go card is essential here especially when you're in KL. Buses, KTMs, LRTs, parking, buying stuff (most Tesco outlets around Klang Valley has Touch n Go payment available FYI) and perhaps more.
ETS? I don't think you can use that seriously. You need to get to KL Sentral to buy one or buy it through the app.
Oh before I forget, some places will charge you a RM0.50 reload surcharge (like at LRT stations' counters and newsstands). So if you're seriously in a budget, get somewhere without surcharge (like the Touch n Go reload kiosks, R&Rs, Watsons, and Tesco too). You can always get the full list from Touch n Go's website. :nom:
Edit: Is that the Smart Selangor bus? Looking at it makes me remembered that the coverage of Smart Selangor buses in Rawang here is like... Horrible. :pain:
Domination of paid buses1 edit = 1 notification LUL.
Yeah things were pretty fine except for the card, thanks to you :nom:
And yes it is the Smart Selangor bus I am mentioning here. I'm not too sure about the coverage, but it seems to reach a bunch of places
that I don't know where they are. Whatever, I don't have the time now to go and try them, I hate finals. Screw linear algebra, I can feel the disintegration of the course's contents in my brain after 4 hours since the exam ended HAHAHA.Good, so since there are so many places to use TnG cards, can I reload them with crypto :nom:More things to say = More edits :lul:
The Smart Selangor bus is still new in Selangor (like 2-3 years already), but the coverage still is pretty limited.
Example: The ONLY route that the Smart Selangor bus goes around Rawang is from the bus terminal to the Tesco like 5km away and back. Well isolated places (like Serendah, Bukit Beruntung, and some semi-rural areas too) have almost-full coverage across the area
(they even have a dedicated bus station for this while Rawang doesn't even have one :pain:). Perhaps they want to let the paid bus company to survive.ALGEBRA AFTER SECONDARY SCHOOL IS ALWAYS A PAIN TO EVERYONEYou can't reload with crypto sadly to say this :pain:
A month or two ago, Touch n Go made an app that allows users to reload their TnG cards through the app. But the main pain of this app is that you need to get to a physical point somewhere in KL within 24 hours after your order is placed in order to confirm your TnG reload. Eventually people around got angry with this since there's no much difference that you go outside and reload it right? :nom:
Yeah, if you put some too-good stuff there for free no one would want to use other stuff that needs you to pay lul. If they really expanded it well enough in every place probably we can see bus companies yelling here and there requesting the government to do something to protect their rights or stuff like that...just like what taxi drivers did against Uber and Grab in the past.
Btw RIP Uber in Malaysia.
Eh...somehow if you can reload it with mobile prepaid cards then you can reload it with crypto, BitRefill is a thing. I haven't used it for ages since I used a postpaid card but it should still be legitimate. Or in any sense, you can sell crypto for RM and do whatever you want with them :lul:
Ah yes, I can agree that the app is super pointless with a degree of 101%.:pain:Lol I can kind of relate to you here. I am a person that always wants to plan ahead too, make sure there will be no mistakes on the road, like not able to find a ticket machine/bus stop or standing on the wrong station for that bus etc. So I always do a thorough research on forehand like you did, and if possible a test drive lol. So I don't think that's weird at all!
How nice that the bus was there 20 minutes early instead of arriving at 40 minutes. I mean I have had a 15 minutes early on a bus trip that was supposed to last for 2 hours but not on a "short" trip like that! Would be very pleased by that haha.
The ticket/passes thing is something that works horrible in Holland too. They used to have paper tickets with 45 strips on it, so you can let the bus chauffeur stamp every trip, those were relatively cheap! Then they decided there should be a card similar to the touch n go card you mention in this post, and things got horrible. I have been living in Holland the first year they started with this, and there was always trouble.. You could charge them online but you had to accept the charge in the bus after you already checked in! So you could not first accept this uploaded balance and use it.. and on top of that those upload machines did not work like 90% of the times.. a real pain in the ass!
I have no idea how much RM40 is worth in euro? And if the public transport is cheap over there? here in Budapest (where I live now) it's cheap and so many connections, even if you go the wrong way there's almost always another option to take the subway to another point.. :) very convenient.. I can't do without public transport anymore lol :)
Well...I do try to stray out of trouble as far as I can, but most of the times it's the opposite of it, I always push myself in trouble in some ways lol. I didn't mention it in the post, but I am almost late for the train to my first station that day. Running to the station under the sun isn't the best way to start a journey...
I somehow believe it is only possible for the bus to arrive earlier than expected on weekends, because on weekdays the roads will be filled with cars since everyone is working...with their own cars haha. To be honest, it took me 5 seconds to realize that I arrived at that station because it is just wayyy too early compared to schedule!
Ah...almost the same issue with our cards here! You can see what Misty said in the comment above, the mobile app does literally nothing because you will still need to confirm the payment somewhere in a physical office within 24 hours of payment. I don't know which engineer proposed this idea but he should really take another few years to restudy software engineering. Shrug. About those machines...yeah, what's the logic of only accepting RM10 notes but not others...reminds me of the stupid vending machine in my school that only accepts RM1 notes. I'm not a banker, wew.
Probably we should care a little more on the relative prices because the amount might look little in euros, RM40 is sufficient for 2 days of food in my school lul. Public transport here is generally cheap except for that one train from the airport to the city. It's pretty expensive but I think it's justified, since it's really convenient and fast and is really never late. I guess it's not too hard to find another option to fix your broken route here, the entire city is somehow connected well enough for it. But for the rest of Malaysia...not that much! This rule only applies to the big cities, rural areas have only a few buses to the main destinations and rarely to anywhere else (but that's pretty sufficient anyways, it's rural areas and you can bike to everywhere...)
Yeah, I think I really can't live without public transport now too. Lol.
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Hello that was a pretty good experience:)im A big fan of public transport i live in a big city and use it on everyday bases. Once we travel i also try to get public transport as much as possible as it is a lot cheaper in general than the taxi. I took the tram and train and bus in Thailand a few years ago that was a bit hard at first to be sure i was going at the right place but it was a lot of fun:)
Well, it's so cheap compared to taxis that I can put my Grab app into the corner now...
Yeah it's really a lot of fun despite being a little challenging at first! During the bus ride, I had a strange thought of "Well this is really real-life MapleStory but without monsters". In the very past (a few years back) when world-warping portals aren't there yet, we have to wait for planes, flying boats, and maybe hot air balloons to move us from one continent to another. The process is really quite similar - get a ticket from an NPC, get on the platform, sit there and wait for the time in which the flight starts, then you are stuck on the plane or whatever transport tool you got on till the end of journey. And yes you need to pay for the ticket too. It feels so identical to this trip in some ways that some nostalgic feels popped up. Uh...a similar feeling would be the moment Pokemon GO becomes real for the first time, it's just...awesome.
Thanks for stopping by :D
@lilacse This looks super confusing to me but I am glad that you were able to work it out to be able to get to where you needed to go. I hope you will be able to get more comfortable using the public transportation and I am sure you will be a pro in no time!
Well, it is indeed confusing and somehow daunting at first sight..."crazy", that's the word in my head the moment I first saw the map I attached at somewhere bottom of the post. How do one make sense out of it? I once heard that the railway maps of Japan is more intense, and it is really true as my friend showed me a map of the Tokyo railway map...it's like double or triple the lines available here. Really crazy.
But then he lived there for about a year and really knows his ways around the place. Probably it's because he used a mobile app for all the navigation and route planning but it still works anyways. I guess when I graduate here after 4 years I will graduate from this unofficial public transport course too :D
I wish you much luck as public transportation at any new place can be a little "crazy" at first. I'm sure Tokyo's railway map would confuse anyone and I would be the first to admit, I would have to ask for help with that one!
Good experience! A big step to all of us to stay out from Traffic Jams! Hahah @ lilacse Upvoted your post and followed you! Stay in touch ya!
It's indeed some good experience, and I guess I did my part to reduce traffic jams 😂 One car less is one car less, can't deny, eh?
Thanks for dropping by and the follow :)
I am also in KL and new to the city. Unlike you, I have been using public transport for most of my life in many different cities. I prefer to travel this way and don't really like to drive, although I can.
The system in KL is one of the nicest I have used. These many systems are way more extensive and convenient that most other places I have been. I agree the confusion level is high, but I have always found help from someone when I do not know which way to go.
You came to the right city to be a newbie on public transport and I hope you keep riding it. 40 myr on Grab is way too much!