6.

Contents/ Points
Before starting the data collection at the rural area, we did some survey on the bus
available and route map from the internet. The targeted location, Tasek Gelugor, is
approximately 25km from Butterworth, 17km from Bukit Mertajam and 13km from
Kepala Batas.

Public transports available to cities from Tasek Gelugor are summarized below:
(a) Rapid Penang

(b) City Liner

ROUTE
52
20

START POINT-END POINT

Penang Sentral Padang Serai
Bukit Mertajam - Tasek Gelugor

We can see that buses are available from three routes, among them two buses going for
the same route which is towards Penang Sentral (Butterworth Jetty). This can be
supported by the results from the questionnaire among the residents where most of the
residents in this area having the demand to go to Butterworth with public transportation.

The destination that you need public transport

Butterworth
Bukit Mertajam
Kepala batas
I don't sit bus

From the interview, we got information from the residents that the bus going to Kepala
Batas is newly added route and the bus having wide frequency range, which means that it
is hardly to get a bus to Kepala Batas from here. Ms. Sugayori mentioned that, she is
working at Kepala Batas and she is delighted with the new added route from Rapid
Penang (610), but sometimes she needs to wait up to more than one hour only board to
the bus. She hopes that the frequency range can be reduced to at least 30 minutes per bus
for those who need it.
Based on this, one of the questionnaire questions aimed to survey on the satisfaction of
residents towards the frequency range of the public transport.
Satisfy on the frequency range of buses

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

52
602

Penang Sentral

Bukit Mertajam

Kepala Batas

Via the chatting with the interviewees, most of them are dissatisfy with the frequency
range which is set but not followed. We can see that there are two bus companies
providing route to Penang Sentral, but the residents always need to wait up to one hour to
get buses to the destination. And what they commented is two buses with same route
always come together. If there are two buses going to same route, they should scheduled
to come simultaneously, so that the frequency range can be narrowed and buses reach in
20 minutes at bus stop regardless of which companys bus.
For the second highest demanded destination, Bukit Mertajam, it is found out that the bus
come more frequent and the residents are satisfy with the frequency range provided.
From our observation when doing the project, the buses towards Bukit Mertajam really
come more frequent than the buses towards Penang Sentral.
Route
Average waiting time
602
1 hours 5 minutes
610
1 hours 15 minutes
52
50 minutes
20
40 minutes
*The data only based on the single day of observation
Another point studied is the satisfaction of the residents towards the fare of the buses.
Collecting the data from the internet, the fare of rapid Penang is based on the distance of
the destination as listed below and the fare of City Liner buses is not provided in the
internet, thus we ask around the residents with which fare of the buses they are satisfy
with:

As the interviewees provide the information that the fare for City Liner going to Penang
Sentral is cheaper than Rapid Penang but both of the fares are reasonable. According to
the residents, before Rapid Penang provides the service in Tasek Gelugor, the buses of
City Liner are not in good condition, with no air-conditioner and the frequency range is
wide, they need to wait for the buses for a longer time. After Rapid Penang introduced,
with the new air-conditioned buses and reasonable price, most of the residents choose to
board Rapid Penang buses.
After some period of time, City Liner improved their buses to air-condition but the fare
still the same. Thus, some residents accepted and will board any bus that comes since the
price suit the condition of the bus. From the information collected, for the route from
Tasek Gelugor to Penang Sentral, Rapid Penang having the fare of RM 3.40 and City
Liner RM 2.50.

Do you satisfy with the bus fare?

Yes (Rapid Penang)
Yes (City Liner)
No (Rapid Penang)
No (City Liner)

Lastly the residents are being questioned on the satisfaction towards the condition of the
bus stop. There are 9 bus stops located in Tasek Gelugor. One of the bus stops as
observed near Taman Bakawali, having no roof and residents are waited behind the bus
stop (roof of the shop). Some of the bus stops are observed with dirty conditions. Mr.
Ong said that sometimes they are not able to see whether the bus coming or not because
some of the lorry drivers like to stop their lorry nearby bus stop for meals (there are food
stalls nearby bus stop). This is causing problems to residents who are waiting and the bus
driver as well since they cannot see each other clearly and the bus is not able to stop at
bus stop.

Are you satisfy with bus stop provided?

Yes
No

Next, we did question and answer session with one of the bus driver. It is found out that,
most of the residents are heading straight to Penang Sentral (Butterworth Jetty). In one
day time, around 40% of the customers are from Tasek Gelugor. Regarding the earliest
bus provided, 6am will have the first bus of the day and the latest is 8pm from Penang
Sentral to Tasek Gelugor. Sunday is the peak day where there are most of the residents
boarding to the bus. And peak time for one day is evening time with most workers and
students.