And although Malaysia is very much car-centric given its past and current urban design policies, many people rely on public transportation as the primary means of commuting.

Unfortunately, from Nov 8-13, 16 stations along the Kelana Jaya LRT line – which transports more than 300,000 passengers daily – were shut down due to problems with the automatic train control (ATC).

Although the line is now fully operational, commuters remember the chaos and inconvenience they experienced, particularly on the first day.

FMT spoke to a few of them.

Editor Zaharahanum Kamarudin, 44, uses the LRT daily in her commute to and from work. She takes the train from Sri Rampai to Masjid Jamek, before switching to the monorail and getting off at the Hang Tuah station. All in, it takes her about an hour to reach her workplace.

On the day of the LRT breakdown, she had no choice but to walk to Lebuh Ampang after work despite the heavy rain to board a RapidKL bus. She reached home two and a half hours later.

The following morning, she decided to take the same bus to work.

“I waited from 6.20-7.20am, but there was no bus,” she said, adding that she usually plans her journey using the app PULSE, which provides information on public transportation in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Kuantan.

While she is happy with the timely notifications on the app regarding train operations, the Rapid bus timings are often inaccurate. “Hence I am unable to plan my journey,” she said.

However, a few days into the disruption, she noted that the special feeder buses provided by RapidKL were more frequent, and that the buses weren’t as packed as the first few days.

“They also provided tents for us to wait under – it was such a relief as it rained pretty often,” she shared, adding that she attended a meet-and-greet event organised by RapidKL once.

“They especially asked us about the need for auxiliary police personnel, and since then, I noticed that there are about two to three of them at train stations during peak hours.”

Leesa Veslee, 26, has been using the LRT for over six years. She parks her car at the Ara Damansara station, and takes the train to KLCC.

“When I found out about the disruption, I panicked. I wanted to book a Grab ride, but it cost a whopping RM60.” To get home, she took the monorail from Bukit Nanas to Bukit Bintang instead, then switched to the MRT to Pasar Seni station.

She then had to wait one and a half hours for the feeder bus to arrive, and it was a further 30-minute wait before the bus left the station. The bus eventually stopped by the side of the road and passengers had to walk in the rain to the Glenmarie LRT station.

“Although it was a just a 10-minute walk to the station, it was not very safe as it was dark, and the cars passing by were honking and flashing their lights at us,” she said, adding that it was about 9.15pm at the time and she was concerned for the welfare of the more senior passengers.

The next day, she decided to drive to work, and on the way back, she offered to give rides to other LRT users. “I asked on Twitter if anyone needed a ride; there were others who did the same – it was the ‘Kita Jaga Kita’ spirit again,” she said.

On the day of the LRT breakdown, architect and part-time lecturer Justin Lee, 32, boarded the feeder bus from Lembah Subang LRT station at 6.17pm, and only reached Kelana Jaya Station at 7.50pm, despite it being only one station away.

“Ideally there should be better contingency plans in case of service disruption,” he said, adding that he usually uses the public transit app “Moovit” to plan his journey.

The founder of Bike CommuteKL – a collective that educates and advocates for better cycling infrastructure – also pointed out that quite a number of lifts and escalators at train stations do not work.

“It is said that there is a disruption in the supply chain due to Covid, however, we don’t see this happening in shopping malls or airports,” he pointed out.

Although Prasarana said it would compensate commuters by providing free rides for a week – it didn’t quite cover the amount of money spent on e-hailing rides, time lost or the added anxiety.

While a more efficient and effective public transportation system no doubt allows the population to be less dependent on cars, solid contingency plans must be in place in the event of a disruption in services.

Public transport users can download the app PULSE here.