KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — The Road Transport Department (JPJ) and the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) have been instructed to step up monitoring of repeat traffic offenders involving transport companies and commercial vehicle drivers.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the instructions are in response to claims of delays by the authorities in taking action against repeat traffic offenders.
“I have instructed JPJ and APAD to be more aggressive in their monitoring, particularly of repeat offenders, including companies or even drivers with multiple violations.
“Proactive action needs to be taken, including audits. Audits will be carried out at transport companies regardless of whether an incident has occurred,” he said during a press conference after the My50 Pass Digitalisation Briefing and Launch at the KL Sentral LRT Station today.
On claims about lorry drivers concealing traffic summonses, resulting in a backlog of unpaid fines, Loke said that it is an internal matter of the companies involved.
“Firstly, a summons is still a summons. I feel that they need to work out a method together with their drivers because the permit is issued to the company, not the driver. So, when a vehicle is summoned, the vehicle owner or permit holder bears the responsibility.
“So, to me, it is their internal affair, including how they deal with their drivers,” he said.
Yesterday, the Transport Ministry revealed a list of 11 goods vehicle operators and 17 express bus companies with a high number of outstanding traffic summonses.
Meanwhile, when asked if the My50 unlimited travel pass, which is currently used on rail and bus services operated by Prasarana Malaysia Bhd, would be expanded to all public transport operators, the minister said they are in talks with Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERL), the private operator of the KLIA Ekspres service, to offer monthly passes at a lower rate to users.
“So, this is what we are working on… it is just that I cannot say the RM50 pass is for all types of transport modes. That will be very difficult to implement,” he said.
Regarding the lack of parking space and damage to vehicles at public transport station areas, Loke added that the government encourages the public to use the Rapid On-Demand (ROD) service to get to LRT stations.
“The government cannot build park-and-ride facilities at every location. That is why we introduced ROD, the whole idea is that we want to encourage more people to use public transport,” he said.
— Bernama
