SUBANG: The government, through its investment in Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd, is spending RM1.6 billion to improve public transportation in the Klang Valley.

Besides boosting public transportation usage to 25% in 2012 from the current 16%, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said on Wednesday, March 31 the challenge is to change people's mindsets.

Recounting his own experience on his LRT journey from the Bangsar station to the RapidKL depot in Subang on Wednesday, Najib said he was puzzled by Malaysians' perception towards public transport.

"For me, it was a very pleasant experience as the journey had nice views of the city. But I don't understand Malaysians who don't mind using public transportation where they are abroad and don't when they are at home.

"There seems to be this perception that public transportation is for the lower-income groups. Having said that I do accept the excuse that the current system is not so good now," said Najib in his keynote address.

But the PM was hopeful that their mindsets can be changed when the KTM Komuter and LRT systems are boosted by between 1.7 and 4.0 times.

According to him, 850 buses and 50 more bus routes will be introduced to boost connectivity while 6,000 car parking places will be increased at 14 main stations.

Najib said that a 1Ticket 1Journey system will be introduced for travelling on buses or LRT.

"Three Integrated Transport Terminals outside the city will be built to reduce cars coming into the Central Business District," said Najib before launching RapidKL's 1Malaysia 4-Car Train on Wednesday.

Besides improving the LRT there also efforts by RapidBET to introduce special lanes for express, transit and normal buses, said Najib.

Meanwhile, Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd chairman Tan Sri Izzuddin Dali said when the 4-car train service was introduced last December, only three trains were operational.

"Today, eight of the 35 sets of trains are operational and the delivery of the remaining sets are scheduled between now and mid-2011," said Izzuddin.

Each 4-car train is capable of carrying 800 passengers at any one time and since its introduction on the Kelana Jaya line, the passenger load has increased 6.7%, said Izzuddin.

According to him, the driverless Bombardier Ttansportation Rapid Transit Mark II was designed in Canada and assembled in Mexico (65%) and Malaysia (35%).

Additional features of the train include special areas for wheelchair-bound passengers with safety belts and safety lights for the hearing-impaired as well as emergency window panes.

Prasarana, a unit of the Ministry of Finance, is tasked with improving one of the National Key Result Areas for transportation - increasing public transport usage to 25% by 2012.

RapidKL is estimated to transport around 600,000 passengers daily; 300,000 on the Ampang and Kelana Jaya lines and 280,000 on its bus service across 48 rail stations and 166 bus routes in the Klang Valley.