No temporary bus permits for Friday and Saturday

(The Star) – Temporary bus permits for travel to Kuala Lumpur will not be issued Friday and Saturday to avoid adding to an anticipated traffic congestion, said the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD).

Its chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said Thursday that this applied to school and factory bus operators who often applied for the permits during peak seasons to transport people to the city.

“It is not necessary since it isn’t a festive season or a school holiday. We also did not receive a sudden surge in permit applications,” he said when contacted.

Syed Hamid said this would not affect travellers as all other public transport services, including the light rail transit (LRT) and KTM commuter trains, would be operating as usual.

“People can continue travelling into Kuala Lumpur via express and tour buses as well,” he said.

He said the decision had been made in a monthly meeting with all public transport and enforcement agencies including the Road Transport Department (JPJ), immigration and the police on Wednesday to discuss various issues and coordinate enforcement work.

“We looked at whether there was a need for temporary licenses during these two days and decided there was not,” he said, adding that it was anticipated there would be traffic jams if the Bersih 2.0 rally was held Saturday.

He stressed this was a precautionary measure to ensure smooth traffic flow this weekend.

Syed Hamid expressed confidence that the bus operators would understand the decision as they were “reasonable people”.