KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 28): Prasarana Malaysia Bhd will soon look into upgrading their stations, to provide banking facilities, retail outlets, laundromats and other amenities for the convenience of its commuters.

Prasarana group managing director Azmi Abdul Aziz said they did not want the stations to merely be a transit stop for users, but that Prasarana was looking for ways to enhance commuter experience at the stations.

Azmi said that based on their studies and commuters' expectations, they were looking at the current needs of the Generation Y.

“In the long run, we are looking at providing facilities for the younger generation at the stations. We don’t want commuters to just come to stations and ride the trains.

“The future of commuters will be populated by the youth. We have to look into the needs of all our commuters,” he said after the launch of the RapidRail coffee table book at Hilton KL yesterday.

Azmi also said that Prasarana would be building more stations that could be adopted by organisations to showcase their businesses.

“The organisations can provide other facilities according to their business models. For instance, a developer can adopt the station and showcase its projects. Or an airline can also provide ticketing facilities. We want to influence a change of lifestyle,” he said.

On the status of the first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, Ismail said it was near completion and expected to start operations in June.

“We will be conducting the testing on the BRT in May and we are on target to start in two months time,” he said.

The Malaysian Insider had reported that Prasarana would be making history by using the first fully-electric buses in the country for the BRT Sunway line.

The BRT Sunway Line is a public-private partnership project by Prasarana and Sunway Bhd, to provide integrated transport access to over 500,000 residents at Bandar Sunway and Subang Jaya.

The project, which costs RM634 million, is 70% funded by Prasarana, 15% by Sunway Bhd and the rest by Unit Kerjasama Awam Swasta (Ukas), a facilitation fund.

The BRT is considered the first elevated version in Southeast Asia.

Also present at the event today were former Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Elyas Omar, Prasarana chairman Tan Sri Ismail Adam and Prime chief executive officer Khairani Mohamed.

Ismail said the coffee table book was aimed at institutionalising the history and documenting the events of the stations.

“We want to showcase a series of events, from nothing until the construction of the stations. The visuals on how the events took place in the city,” he said.

Prasarana said that the book was currently not for sale, but that if there was mass demand for it, it would be available in the future. – The Malaysian Insider