Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan has left motorists fuming after suggesting that they should wake up earlier or find alternative routes to toll roads on their commute. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, November 3, 2015.Motorists in the Klang Valley have blasted Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan for his remarks that they should wake up early to beat the traffic rush on toll-free routes in their commutes to work if they wished to save money.
Kepong resident Yap Zhe Cheng, 23, said that it was impossible for people to wake up early just to avoid the tolls.
“What do we do when we reach the office at 6am or 7am?
“I don’t think this is right. Everyone cannot wake up together and, even if they use the toll, they will get stuck in the jam.”
Hassan Sulaiman, 53, from Taman Segambut, said it did not make any difference if motorists woke up early.
“To say some should wake up at 8am and others wake up at 7am, so you can reduce the congestion and avoid tolls is ridiculous. The congestion will be the same and the toll charges will also be the same.
“However, if you can wake up early, then of course you can use the old road like Sungai Buloh, where there are two three routes that can reduce your expenses. Even so, that is just burdening us.”
Yong Jian Heng, 33, also from Kepong, questioned why the motorists should wake up early.
“Why does the minister want us to do wake up early? They should instead look at subsidising tolls and reducing fuel prices.
“Ask him if he would like wake up early 3 or 4am to go to work.”
The Kota Belud MP said motorists could always find toll-free roads if they wished to keep their expenses low, which would require them to either brave the traffic congestion or by “waking up earlier” to avoid the traffic.
“Wherever there are tolls, there are alternative routes. So, you can avoid tolls but you will have to brave the traffic. You will have to invest in more time and wake up earlier.”
“It’s about trading off,” he told reporters. Rahman said the government had no choice but to allow the concessionaires to raise the rates because there had been no increase for some time.
Mechayue Mustaza, 30, said the minister should have more sense before making such a statement.
“I live in Taman Perindustrian OUG, which on the weekends is a mere 15-minute drive to Bangsar but it is 30 minutes on a work day, provided I get out of my house by 6.45am.
“The journey becomes longer the later I leave. However, I don’t even work in Bangsar. From there, I take the LRT to work in KLCC, where the jam going home will be worse than if I leave from Bangsar,” she said.
Anna Abdullah, 35 who lives in Kelana Jaya, said that on days that require her to drive into the city, she has to wake up earlier and that was already a burden.
“To get to the city centre, I have to leave my house by 6.50am latest to get to work by 7.30am.
“My journey doesn’t require me to take a toll road. If I were to take the LRT, I would need to leave my house even earlier because the car park at Kelana Jaya station is full by 7.10am.
“I would have to leave my house at 6.40am, despite me living 10 minutes away, just for a parking space. I am organised but why should I wake up extra early to avoid paying the tolls?” she said. – November 3, 2015.
Comments
Please refrain from nicknames or comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature, or you may risk being blocked from commenting in our website. We encourage commenters to use their real names as their username. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments