Kuching has been selected as one of the five cities in the country for the nationwide programme known as the ‘Stage Bus Service Transformation’ (SBST). Ac cording to Mini s t e r of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing, the contract period for the programme shall be five years plus three years where the agreement will be finalised by this month.
“Operation is expected to commence next year and will take nearly one year for the buses to be manufactured and fitted with electronic ticketing system with ‘touch-n-go’ card compliance, onboard WiFi, global positioning system (GPS) tracking, and onboard CCTV,” he said.
He added that the Kuching SBST project will cover about 560 km (15 trunk routes and 12 feeder routes) with 130 new buses (increased coverage from the existing coverage of 269 km) and bus frequency will range from 20 minutes to one and a half hour interval depending on the routes served.
“The five existing stage bus operators in Kuching had formed a consortium called ‘Konsortium BBK Sdn Bhd’ as the network operator. The fares imposed in SBST would be in accordance with the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board fare structure.
“The ultimate goal of SBST is to reduce traffic congestion and to improve the reliability and efficiency of existing bus services. If the pilot project in Kuching is deemed successful, the government may replicate it to other areas in the state,” he said.
