.jpg "Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (centre) poses for the camera after launching the My100 and My50 travel passes at KL Sentral December 1, 2018. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Razak Ghazali")
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the government is aiming to get 200,000 subscribers a month for the Unlimited Travel Pass My100 and My50 announced in Budget 2019.
Loke explained that greater subscribers will result in lower public transport costs, adding that his ministry was estimating an initial cost of RM120 million for the programme or enough to sustain 120,000 users.
“The increase of ridership (using the initiative) past 120,000 users will also reduce the cost of sustaining it,” Loke said at the press conference following the launch of the pass.
The My100 pass enables holders to utilise all Prasarana services including MRT, LRT, monorail, BRT Sunway, RapidKL buses, and MRT feeder buses every month for only RM100.
For the My50, users may ride on all RapidKL and MRT feeder buses every month, excluding BRT Sunway.
The minister said Klang Valley was chosen as the launch location for the initiative as it has the highest concentration of public transport infrastructure in Malaysia.
“Throughout next year we will also look at other cities nationwide to see if it can be expanded there.
“Possible locations include Kuantan, Johor Bharu, or Penang. The initiative also aims to encourage more Malaysians to use the cashless system of payment,” Loke said.
To encourage the public to sign up for the initiative, the ministry has enlisted the country’s top athletes to promote it on their social media pages.
They include squash champion Datuk Nicol Ann David, diver Cheong Jun Hoong, Rio 2016 Paralympics gold medallist runner Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi, Rio 2016 Olympics silver medallist badminton player Goh Liu Ying, and bowling champion Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi.
Also included are Commonwealth Games 2018 bronze medallist diver Leong Mun Yee, karate champion Syakilla Salni Jefry Krisnan, SEA Games KL 2017 triple-gold medallist freestyle swimmer Welson Sim, SEA Games KL 2017 gold medallist artistic gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, and SEA Games KL 2017 gold medallist ice skater Julian Yee Zhi-Jie.
“They have a lot of followers on social media, and they can play a role in promoting the initiative to them as many among the public are still unaware despite the ministry having spoken of this before.
“Although they will not be paid for their endorsement, the athletes will be given passes for up to a year, which can be renewed, as a gesture of thanks for their support,” he said.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched the scheme at KL Sentral here this morning, accompanied by his wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah.
Dr Mahathir said this will also help to alleviate the people’s living costs by fixing some of their travel costs.
“God willing, this will encourage more to save their money carefully. Money that would have been spent on public transportation can now be used for other things.
“The government will continue to do its part in reducing the burden of living costs upon the rakyat, as outlined in the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto,” he said.
