The MRT Now Has 140,000 Passengers Daily, But It Needs To Double That To Break Even
People need to ride trains more.
By John Lim — 28 Mar 2018, 12:49 PM
Ridership on the Mass Rail Transit (MRT) system currently stands at 140,000, but that number is still far from hitting profitability
Bernama reported Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Othman Aziz as saying that the network will need to meet a target of 250,000 passengers to break even.
"Based on estimates, return on capital can be generated when the daily number of passengers on MRT reaches 250,000 people, compared with the 130,000 and 140,000 people at present," he told the New Straits Times (NST).
However, Othman explained that the MRT was a long-term project and it would require an extended amount of time for it to be profitable
Spanning over three major lines, the entire network will cost around RM100 billion to build.
"Right now, there are six stations which have yet to be fully completed and utilised, namely the Kwasa Damansara, Kwasa Sentral, Kampung Selamat, Sungai Buloh, TRX, and Merdeka 118 stations," he told the Dewan Rakyat in response to a query regarding the project’s income and profitability.
Othman was optimistic for ridership to increase with the completion of several housing and commercial projects along the MRT network
“InsyaAllah (With the blessing of Allah), we will achieve our aim of encouraging the use of public transport, which would lead to return on capital,” he said.
The Sungai Buloh-Kajang line of the MRT network began operations in December 2016 with the opening of phase one. It became fully operational in July last year after the launch of phase two.
The Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya line is expected to be fully operational by 2022. MRT Line 3, which will form a part of the Greater KL/Klang Valley Integrated Transit System, is slated for completion before 2025.