Public transport is great, to be honest. It’s not just that it often gets you to your destination faster, it also goes a long way to taking the stress out of travel. If you’ve experienced KL city centre at rush hour, you’ve got a good idea of the alternatives.
So, if you’re one of the lucky residents who live near the Kelana Jaya Line, we salute your fine property purchasing decisions!
Sure, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line isn’t flawless. Anyone who’s been caught in the crush of human bodies on the way to work will recognise it’s not all sunny rainbows and the smell of roses. Sometimes, it smells a wholeee lot worse.
But we’re here to tell you that there are undeniable benefits, both economic and personal, to the joys of the Kelana Jaya Line.
History of the Kelana Jaya Line
Construction of the LRT Kelana Jaya began in 1994, and over the following five years, the first phase of this ambitious rapid transport route was completed, opening in September of 1998.
The line initially ran between Subang Depot and Pasar Seni, before being extended in June 1999 to run from Terminal Putra to Pasar Seni. The Kelana Jaya line gets its name from the Kelana Jaya station, once the terminal of this line.
In early 2010 a project was announced by then Prime Minister Najib Razak to extend the line a further 17 kilometres, adding 13 new stations to its route. In 2016, this new stretch was opened, extending the Kelana Jaya line from Putra Heights.
The line has been a huge success right from the start, with passenger numbers in its first full year of operation in 1999 reaching over 17 million people. By the following year, this figure had skyrocketed to over 44.5 million people, showing the huge thirst for convenient public transport in KL and the wider area. In 2002, the Kelana Jaya LRT celebrated carrying its 150 millionth passenger!
The Kelana Jaya Line today
The Kelana Jaya LRT Line today reaches from Putra Heights in the south, through Kelana Jaya, all the way to Gombak in the north. It serves major neighbourhoods such as Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya, and has provided a major catalyst for growth and opportunity through the Klang Valley.
It can proudly name itself the first truly automated transport line in the Klang Valley, essentially making it an awesome mode of transport that safely takes you where you want to go (as long as it’s on the line of course!). That robot railway stretches 46.4 kilometres from north to south, comprised of 37 stations along its route.
Now the Kelana Jaya line routinely transports over 80 million people a year, making it a vital connection running through Klang Valley.
Benefits of the Kelana Jaya Line
The benefits of the LRT Kelana Jaya are substantial and far-reaching. Not only does this kind of mass transport option improve travel times, it also provides a notable environmental and economic benefit.
1) Congestion eased
The Kelana Jaya line carried almost 240,000 thousand passengers a day in 2018. That’s a huge number of people able to benefit from direct public transport rather than taking to the roads.
If that seems like a substantial benefit, consider the total figure since the line was first opened. Over 1.2 billion passengers have travelled on the line since it was launched almost two decades ago.
That’s a massive saving on traffic jams, travel time saved, as well as the economic value of workers actually managing to get to work on time!
Let’s look at the facts, shall we. A 2015 World Bank study revealed that traffic jams in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area alone lost commuters as much as 500 million man-hours in 2014!
Not only does that equate to cars burning 1.2 billion litres of fuel idling in traffic, it cost the economy as much as RM54 million every single day! When it comes to figures such as that, infrastructure like the LRT Kelana Jaya is clearly the hero we need.
2) Environmental impact
Of course all those people off the roads also makes a significant difference to air pollution. Look at the 1.2 billion litres of fuel wasted just idling alone.
We might not have realised quite how important that was in 1999, but anyone who would celebrate 1.2 billion passengers taking to the roads of Klang Valley instead is either a fool or a madman!
Consider that environmental studies for proposed new MRT lines in the Greater Kuala Lumpur estimate 337,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent saved every year from reduction of private transport, it’s easy to see how big an impact almost 20 years of LRT Kelana Jaya will have had.
3) Property prices
There’s a clear and undeniable link between proximity to mass transport (like the LRT) and positive impact on property prices.
A study conducted in 2013 showed a clear positive relationship between house prices and properties located close to the Klang Valley’s LRT network. Also, some property experts estimate that mass transport in KL can add as much as 20% to nearby property prices!
READ MORE: The 5 Transit-Oriented Developments (TOD) You Need To Check Out!
4) Social mobility
According to the World Bank, public transport can be a powerful enabler of social mobility in Malaysia, meaning better transport like the LRT actually helps out the poorest part of the population. Creating public housing closely located to an affordable transport system enables social growth.
5) Economic benefits:
Better transportation opens up better economic opportunities. That’s an established fact, whether you’re talking about the Klang Valley or Kathmandu. You’ll be glad to know the Klang Valley has much better transport infrastructure than Kathmandu, and the LRT is an important part of that.
The 2015 World Bank study reveals the cost of transport delays in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area stood at RM54 million per day in 2014. That’s just the direct loss associated with lost productivity time and enhanced travel costs.
But infrastructure like Kelana Jaya LRT not only helps avoid that loss, it also opens up new opportunities by connecting popular areas like Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya with vibrant business districts in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
It connects the residents across the route with the commercial opportunities of major malls like Subang Parade, Suria KLCC, and Empire Shopping Gallery, to name but a few. That’s not even considering the interlinked opportunities presented by transport interchanges that open up the wider potential of Klang Valley’s public transport routes.
So if you think life on the Kelana Jaya LRT at rush hour is at bad as it gets, just imagine the alternatives if it didn’t exist. When it comes down to it, it’s not just an enabler of travel, but an enabler of economic opportunity across the Klang Valley.
Apart from the public transportation options available when you’re looking for your dream home, what else do you need to check out? Here are the Top 5 Things Malaysians Consider When Buying A Property, so that you make sure you have the most important things covered during your hunt. Good luck!