Missed connection

KL Monorail has got it all wrong, all over again.

When KL Sentral was opened to the public in the late 90s, I struggled to look for what would have become the KL Monorail's platform.

Lo and behold, a couple of years later, we see a street in the midst of pawn shops and blind masseurs boarded up to build a station. No, this wasn't in Sentral's grounds. From Sentral, it was across a giant car park and a Jalan Tun Sambanthan.



Using Google Earth, I have calculated the distance between these two stations: 140 m. Honestly, that isn't very far to me. But it's what in between these two that really annoy passengers.

Well let's do some reminiscing:

When the KL Monorail first opened, there was no covered walkway between the two.

A few months later, a covered walkway was built.

Recently, they have assembled tents on both sides of the covered walkway. (The Google Earth picture shows the tents on one side.) Tents to turn this covered walkway into a souq!? Now doing a change involves walking through this crowded covered bazaar, probably worse than attempting to walk Petaling Street.

It is poorly ventilated, smelly and crowded.

And that's why they probably have to offer this "feeder shuttle service".

I once had the honour of taking the Monorail on a rainy day. As I arrived at KL Sentral (MONORAIL!), it started to pour. The station entrance didn't have enough shade. There were parts which were shaded but were collecting water. Crossing over to the nearby pawn shops was difficult because there wasn't enough shade and the tiles were slippery.

Commuters wishing to cross to Sentral had to wait for the rain to momentarily subside, hope that the pedestrian crossing goes green at the same time, dodge puddles of water, cover their heads and dash over to Sentral.

I asked the Station Master: Kenapa macam ni? He replied that the car park was going to be developed.

And so? KL Monorail didn't manage to negotiate space for a station with this developer? KL Monorail has the right to label this station KL Sentral for the time being? Commuters had to put up with this shit for the time being?

Ladies and gentlemen. Here, we are witnessing Malaysian incompetence, indifference, greed and corruption of the highest order. A bloody big mistake has been made, and there is a bloody good chance for the mistake to be corrected.

But no, no correction. All we get is a shuttle bus and a souq.