The government is not compelling express bus operators, including Aeroline, to operate solely from the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) or the Gombak Bus Terminal (TBG), says Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
00:00I just met them yesterday okay so firstly I told them you have you have not been following the
00:16regulation okay we know that I mean because the public did not did not what you call it did not
00:23look at it from an overall point of view yes they want convenience for us our priority is a
00:29social safety we have to balance between convenience and safety I met the aeronine operator I invited
00:36them to meet me in parliament I give them an opportunity they complained that they have been
00:41operating 33 years but never once they were able to meet a transport minister but I told them you
00:47cannot afford me I only was a minister for three years the previous ministers did not meet you I
00:51cannot be blamed for that but I took the the the the liberty to meet them to hear them out so I told
00:59them that we understand that the tourists want convenience the passengers want convenience
01:05but as far as we are concerned we want to make safety as our priority everyone must operate in a safe
01:14manner so we we have actually call a meeting last week to also again is some of the condition why certain
01:23areas cannot cannot cannot it's not suitable for them to stop for example they said one of the major
01:30stop in Skoros hotel course hotel firstly is in the heart of Kuala Lumpur secondly is just by the roadside
01:37I told them point blank I said as far as roadside is concerned there is a no-no but we are we are prepared to
01:45facilitate in areas in shopping malls which have proper facilities such as Wan Utama okay Wan Utama
01:54previously we told them they apply for a license we told them because they need to get the kebenaran
02:01merancang from PBT which they were not able to get the support so again I told Apat to ease the the condition
02:08as long as there is no objection from PBT for that facilities to continue to operate we will license
02:17the terminal in Bandar Utama in Wan Utama sorry so Wan Utama shopping center I already told Apat facilitate
02:25them help them to license them to become bus terminal so once that is licensed no problem
02:30aeroline can continue to operate from from Wan Utama in KL city center we have identified Lala Port Lala Port
02:39there is a dedicated lane for buses so we look at the suitability again if it's suitable we will license
02:45Lala Port and there are many other shopping malls which have those facilities like Putrajaya IOI City Mall
02:51they have a proper terminal so we have no problem licensing those terminal so what we want to tell
02:58Aeroline and any other operators not just about Aeroline but other operators as well that everyone
03:05must operate from a suitable license and safe bus terminal while the definition of bus terminal was
03:14very stringent previously we will try to simplify that to help to enable more areas to become terminals it is
03:22not true that we are forcing them to DBS so they have tried to create the perception
03:28that we are forcing Aeroline and all other operators only to DBS and DBS I said no okay the answer is no
03:35we are not forcing anyone must go to DBS or DBS but you must operate from a safe area okay licensed area
03:43as the terminal and we will ease the process of becoming a terminal
03:47is there a timeline for this especially the Mandau Utama yeah we as soon as we can do it we are trying to facilitate we are reaching out to the shopping malls we are reaching out to the shopping malls we are reaching out to the building owners but this is not the
04:06the bus operator this must be done by the shopping malls they must apply the license but we are reaching out to them to help them license the terminal so we are doing everything possible to help facilitate you see I mean while the trade associations hotel associations and all that talking about tourists yes we agreed as I mentioned Ministry of Transport is an enabler
04:36everyone said today or not convenience but the moment if there's an accident happen in front of a shopping mall we will be blamed too the whole public opinion will be against MOT and blame MOT why allow passengers to drop drop off in front of the in front of a major road
04:54so again I hope that the larger public can see things from multiple perspectives we want convenience yes but at the same time we need safety so we are facilitating and we are balancing the two we are not forcing everyone just to go to one particular terminal we are trying to create more terminals around the city in a safe manner okay thank you
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