Of late the public transport in Ipoh has been a disappointment to the public. With Perak Transit running the show and with the new manager, little or nothing is taken to improve the bus services, especially to Kampung Bercham, the destination with the most number of passengers. There is no bus schedule in the bus or at the station showing the actual departure time, as the drivers leave the station (Medan Kidd) as and when they like. Five buses are supposed to be on the road, but on one occasion, I noticed that only two buses were running, causing one to wait for more than an hour to get a bus.
With the express (bus) terminal located at Amanjaya, passengers are cheated by irresponsible taxis at night, charging expensive trips, as the bus services stop at 9pm.
Even worse is the express bus going to Teluk Intan with frequent late departures and cancellation of trips due to poor management. Once I booked a 5pm ticket on Sunday hoping to reach home by 7pm, only to be informed that the trip for that timing was cancelled and I had to take the 6pm bus. The bus finally departed at 6.25pm and I reached Teluk Intan at about 9pm! I thought that the purpose of advance booking was to assure passengers of a time and a place on the bus, not add to their problems. I hope the relevant authority will look into this.
Johnson D’Cruz
Ipoh
