Public transport restructuring

The operation of Kuala Lumpur's Light Rapid Transit lines since its inception had lower ridership than expected, which led to the concessionaire operators of the LRT lines, Sistem Transit Aliran Ringan Sdn Bhd (STAR-LRT) and Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA-LRT) being unable to repay their commercial loans. The 1997 Asian financial crisis aggravated the situation, and by November 2001, the two companies owed a combined total of RM5.7 billion. The Government of Malaysia's Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC) stepped in to restructure the debts of the two LRT companies. In 2002, both companies and their respective LRT services were bought over by Prasarana Malaysia, and operations of the lines eventually were transferred to Rapid KL.

The Malaysian government would continue to bail out KL Infrastructure Group, which was the operator concessionaire holder and owner of the line, for RM 822 million. It was then promptly taken over by Prasarana Malaysia and operated by Rapid Rail since.^[3]

The bus service in Kuala Lumpur was also facing problems with lower ridership due to an increase in private car usage and a lack of capital investments. The two new bus consortia formed in the mid 1990s to consolidate all bus services in Kuala Lumpur, Intrakota Komposit and Cityliner, began facing financial problems. Intrakota had reportedly accumulated losses amounting to RM450 million from the 1997 financial crisis until Prasarana Malaysia took over in 2003. With decreased revenues, the bus operators could not maintain their fleets, much less invest in more buses. Frequencies and service deteriorated as buses began breaking down, and ridership suffered as a result. Public transport usage in the Klang Valley area dropped to about 16% of all total trips as a result.

Improvement steps

Kelana Jaya Line train Set 09 Bombardier Innovia Metro (refurbished 1st generation stock)

A 6-car train manufactured by CSR Zhuzhou at Awan Besar on the Sri Petaling Line.

Scomi Sutra 4-car train on KL Monorail.

BYD K9 on the BRT Sunway Line.

Volvo B8L on route 300 at Jalan Ampang

Alexander Dennis Enviro500 MMC operated by Rapid Bus at Cheras Selatan depot.

MAN 18.280 HOCL-NL at bus stop in front of Hotel Furama, Jalan Pudu.

Rail

The entire rail network, operated by Rapid Rail is 156.7 km long and has 116 stations. The network's trains can travel up to 80 km/h. In 2008, the rail network carried a total of over 350,000 passengers daily.^[4] The BRT Sunway Line, despite being operated by Rapid Bus, is a component of and integrated with the Rapid KL network.

Future services

Code	Line	Stations	Length	Status	Planned opening	Termini
11	Shah Alam Line	25	37.8 km	Under construction	February 2024	Bandar Utama	Johan Setia
13	Circle Line	31	50.8 km	Approved[9]	Phase 1: December 2028	Bukit Kiara South	UM
					Phase 2: 2030

Rapid KL dedicated bus lane

Bus

The entire bus network is operated by Rapid Bus, one of the largest bus operators in the Klang Valley area, along with Transnasional. Currently, there are 98 stage bus routes and 39 feeder bus services which operate from the rail stations. The bus routes operated by Rapid Bus were previously operated by Intrakota Komposit Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of DRB-Hicom; and Cityliner Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Park May Bhd. In 2008, Rapid Bus carried around 390,000 passengers daily.^[4]

On 18 June 2020, Rapid Bus released new features on real time locations of bus in Google Maps, via collaboration with Google Transit.^{[10][11][12][13]} Almost 170 RapidKL bus routes are covered with this real time feature. Rapid Bus also plans to expand the application to MRT feeder bus service, Rapid Penang, and Rapid Kuantan in the future. Now all the buses can be tracked via PULSE application.

Stations

Since the Kelana Jaya and Ampang lines were intended to be operated by different owners during the planning and construction phase, both lines have unique and distinct station designs. Except for five underground stops between Pasar Seni and Ampang Park on the Kelana Jaya Line, the entirety of the LRT is elevated or at-grade. The Ampang Line consists of elevated and at-grade stations, while the Kelana Jaya Line comprises underground and elevated stations, in addition to one at-grade station. All trains are air-conditioned.

The Kelana Jaya Line runs in a northeast-southwesterly direction, consisting primarily of elevated stops and a handful of underground and at-grade stations. Of a total of 37 stations, 31 are elevated, and 5 stops are underground. The only at-grade station, Sri Rampai. The service depot is located in Subang.

The stations, like those of the Ampang Line, are styled in several types of architectural designs. Elevated stations, in most parts, were constructed in four major styles with distinctive roof designs for specific portions of the line. The KL Sentral station, added later, features a design more consistent with the Stesen Sentral station building. Underground stations, however, tend to feature unique concourse layout and vestibules, and feature floor-to-ceiling platform screen doors to prevent platform-to-track intrusions. 22 stations (including two terminal stations and the five subway stations) use a single island platform, while 15 others use two side platforms. Stations with island platforms allow easy interchange between north-bound and south-bound trains without requiring one to walk down/up to the concourse level.

On the Ampang Line, the system includes a total of 36 stations: eleven along the Chan Sow Lin-Sentul Timur line, seven along the Ampang LRT station-Chan Sow Lin line and eighteen along the Sri Petaling-Chan Sow Lin line. The service depot and primary train depots for the system are situated before the Ampang terminal station and the end of the Ampang-bound line, and beside the Putra Heights terminal at the end of Putra Heights-bound line. A secondary train depot is located after the Sri Petaling station.

The line between the Plaza Rakyat station to the Sentul Timur station is strictly elevated, with the line between the Bandaraya station to the Titiwangsa station running along the Gombak River. The Chan Sow Lin-Ampang line is primarily surface leveled, while the Chan Sow Lin-Plaza Rakyat line and the Sri Petaling-Chan Sow Lin line use a combination of surface leveled and elevated tracks. There are no subway lines in the system.