Despite worsening traffic congestion, especially in the Klang Valley, the government has no plans for now to limit the number of private vehicles on the road.
According to 8TV, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the government is currently focusing on measures to ease traffic flow, particularly during festive seasons.
No immediate policy to control vehicle numbers
He said there is no policy at this stage to control the total number of cars in the country.
According to him, introducing measures such as an end-of-life vehicle policy could create other issues and public complaints.
For now, we do not plan to introduce any policy to control vehicle numbers,” he said.
However, he added that the matter may need to be studied in the long term to ensure the total number of vehicles can be managed.
Malaysia is the largest car market in Southeast Asia
Loke revealed that although Malaysia has a population of about 30 million, car sales reached 820,000 units last year.
This figure placed Malaysia ahead of Thailand and Indonesia, making it the largest car market in Southeast Asia.
He admitted that the sharp increase in private vehicles is a major cause of traffic congestion and has made Malaysia a car-centric country.
I understand the people’s frustration. I also get stuck in traffic, and in the Klang Valley it can take nearly two hours to reach a destination,” he said.
Efforts to improve public transport
The Transport Ministry will continue efforts to improve public transportation to reduce congestion.
Loke said this includes increasing Electric Train Service (ETS) and KTM Komuter services.
However, he acknowledged that the impact remains limited.
When compared to two million vehicles entering highways, adding 50,000 passenger seats may seem small,” he said.
He added that the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) line is expected to open in the coming months once testing is completed.
It is not that we do not want to launch LRT3 now, but testing must be completed before it can open to the public,” he said.
Additional ets services for Chinese New Year
In conjunction with the Chinese New Year travel period, KTM has added 16 extra ETS services.
This increases the total daily ETS trips to 58 during the festive season.
Two additional services to Padang Besar will offer 5,040 seats, with tickets having gone on sale at 12.15 am today.
The extra services will operate from Feb 15 to Feb 22 using the eighth ETS train set.
